New Zealand VIP visits Houston, HISD as a model of education reform, Texas MUDs, and young adult views on Houston

[Tory]

 Catching up on a few smaller items from my slow-posting summer:

• Got to have a bbq dinner with New Zealand government minister Chris Bishop in July to brief him on Houston and Texas policies that keep housing affordable (NZ houses are about 3x what they are here, similar to CA). He's in casual clothes before an overnight flight returning to NZ, lol. 

• John Arnold holds up the state takeover of HISD as a national model of impressive education reform in a nation that has pretty much given up :-(
• A substack on the Texas MUD model for housing development, including a nice graph of rent increases vs. population growth for different cities (spoiler alert: Texas does very well).
• Kinder: How do young adults feel about living in Houston? These 4 charts tell the story. 

1. Houston's young adults (18-34) highly value the city's diversity, community, and lifestyle, seeing them as the best aspects of living there.
2. The city's affordability and lifestyle are particularly attractive to Gen Z and young millennials who are delaying traditional life milestones for financial reasons.
3. Most young adults have a positive outlook on Houston's culture, recreational activities, and higher education opportunities.
4. The primary reasons young adults choose to stay in Houston are the life they've built there and proximity to family and friends, rather than solely job opportunities.