One grassroots group has raised concerns with Tesla leadership over hiring practices at the company's new Austin gigafactory, urging the car manufacturer to improve opportunities for Spanish-speaking residents.

The big picture: Tesla, which recently announced its headquarters will move to Austin, will employ at least 5,000 workers at the new plant.

But Texas Anti-Poverty Project, a group created by Austin Independent School District trustee Ofelia Maldonado Zapata, is worried that Tesla lacks opportunities for Spanish speakers.

• Tesla officials and Travis County representatives meet with the anti-poverty group monthly to discuss the company's hiring practices, Zapata said. In their second meeting, Tesla representatives said they do not provide bilingual staff to translate for Spanish speakers at the plant.
• "We all found out — even the county did not know — that [Tesla said] basically, 'We don't hire Spanish speakers,'" Zapata told Axios. "How can you build a plant in an area that is high [in] Spanish speakers when they're probably the ones building the plant?"

Yes, but: Tesla is working with the anti-poverty group to create a program to help workers learn English for their jobs.

• Zapata argues the plan doesn't go far enough: "To me, it's the long way to figure it out."

What's next: The anti-poverty group plans to meet with city council members and county commissioners to discuss future incentives for companies moving to the area and the enforcement of such agreements.

Get involved: The Texas Anti-Poverty Project will meet with Tesla again on Wednesday at 7pm. The meeting is open to the public. A Zoom link will be posted to the project's Facebook page.

More on the group's fight for Spanish-speaking workers

The newest cage-match venue for young'uns and old folks: that piece of property down the street that's for sale.

Driving the news: Elbowed out by Americans 60 years and older, young people are making up a smaller share of recent homebuyers than in previous years, per a new Zillow analysis.

• Because baby boomers are more likely to be homeowners who can use money from the sale of their current home to buy their next one, they have a built-in advantage in a bidding war.

In the Austin metro area, Zillow officials tell Axios:

• Half of buyers in 2019 were 18-39 years old, compared to 55.1% of that age group in 2009.

What they're saying: "Even before the pandemic, the largest-ever generation entering their 30s and the hangover from more than a decade of underbuilding were on a collision course set to define the U.S. housing market," Jeff Tucker, senior economist at Zillow, said.

"The pandemic supercharged demand for housing, bringing the shortage into relief sooner than we expected, as millennials sought bigger homes with Zoom rooms, and older Americans accelerated retirement plans, spurring moving decisions."

• Millennials, already grappling with white-hot housing costs from pre-pandemic trends and student debt that make saving for a down payment a tough proposition, also generally have more competition from older generations than their predecessors, per Zillow.

The big picture: "OK Boomer," the cutting millennial putdown, probably matters little to seniors as the real estate agent hands them their new home keys.

Dive deeper into the generational housing fight

Some good news for prospective homebuyers (of any generation): September home sales slid nearly 5% compared to the same month last year, per new data from the Austin Board of Realtors.

Why it matters: Have you tried buying a home lately?

Bidding wars this past year have meant homes have gone for hundreds of thousands of dollars over listing prices as frenzied hopeful owners try to secure their piece of the American Dream.

• Austin homebuying has reached grim comedy: To the ESPN prompt, "Name something that isn't an Olympic sport, but feels like an Olympic sport," the Austin Twitter account Evil MoPac answered: "Buying a house in Austin."

💰 Yes, but: While prices are no longer increasing at a significant month-to-month rate, the metro area's median sale price in September was a record $450,000. That's an increase of 28.5% (!) over last year's median.

The bottom line: The decline in home sales is a positive step, but there's "a long way to go for this to be a balanced market," according to Susan Horton, Austin Board of Realtors president.

Read more about the housing market

🏊‍♀️ Barton Springs pool reopened Tuesday after heavy flooding. (CBS Austin)

🏛 Austin City Council Member Greg Casar says he'll likely run for the congressional seat being vacated by U.S. Rep. Lloyd Doggett, who will run in a newly proposed Austin district. State Reps. Trey Martinez Fischer and Eddie Rodriguez also indicated their interest Tuesday. (The Texas Observer)

☑ Meanwhile, Austin attorney Julie Oliver could run a third time for Congress, filing FEC papers Tuesday to launch an exploratory committee to run against Doggett in the newly proposed District 37. (h/t Texas Tribune's Patrick Svitek)

💰 The city of Round Rock is spending millions of dollars to replace water line pipes built in the 1970s. (KXAN)

Several of our hometown barbecue joints earned spots on Texas Monthly's prestigious list of the top 50 barbecue eateries across the state.

Of course, Franklin Barbecue made the top 10 but slipped from last year's No. 2 spot to No. 7.

🍗 The top 10 list also included LeRoy and Lewis at No. 4 and Interstellar at No. 2, respectively. It's both restaurants' first time in the magazine's rankings.

• RIP BBQ spots that closed down in recent years: Freedmen's, a stylish West Campus joint that made the 2017 list, and Ruby's, another Texas Monthly favorite that once served as a late-night stop for blues musicians and college kids alike.
• Asher long considered 29th and Guadalupe, home to the Ruby's pits, the best-smelling corner in America.

Austin joints rounding out the top 50 list: Distant Relatives, La Barbecue, Micklethwait Craft Meats and Valentina's Tex Mex BBQ.