Austin’s very first Starbucks coffee shop, situated at the most prominent downtown intersection, is closing next month. After 27 years in business,
Last week the
New York Times ran an article about three B-list celebrities who decided to use the COVID-19 lockdowns as an opportunity to move to Austin. Why did Becca Tobin (
Glee), Jamie-Lynn Sigler (
The Sopranos), and Haylie Duff (Hilary’s older sister) pick Austin? “We liked the idea of being in a progressive city, but not necessarily something so overly populated,” Tobin told reporter Mariella Rudi, who is based in Los Angeles.
That one quote gets to the crux of Austin’s ongoing housing crisis. Folks with lots of money are moving to Austin but also don’t want the city to get any bigger. Many long-time residents don’t want the kind of density that might alleviate the supply crunch. You don’t have to be a Milton Friedman aficionado to know that this is a recipe for skyrocketing prices and inevitable displacement. In fact, median home prices in Austin have jumped by more than $100,000 from $455,000 to $566,500 in less than six months. Upper-middle-class families