It’s Climate Solutions Week!

This week, we’re examining how people are contributing to and dealing with climate change’s effects on housing, from water scarcity and heat waves to solar panels and flood management. But we don’t do this work alone. People like you power our journalism, so we can keep bringing you the stories you can’t find anywhere else. Can we count on your support today?

Green social housing

by Julia Simon, climate solutions correspondent

I’m moving neighborhoods and looking for a new apartment for my family.

Let me tell you, I started this search at the exact wrong time in my life.

The reason? I have just gotten back from an NPR reporting trip to Vienna, Austria. While I was there, I saw lots and lots of Viennese apartments.

Ryan Kellman/NPR

It’s not just that the apartments I saw in Vienna are incredibly affordable — the average cost of a large one-bedroom is about $700 a month.

It’s that the apartment buildings I saw in Vienna are beautiful, with rooftop gardens, balconies, communal saunas, and lots of light.

And there’s something else. In Vienna, rental apartment buildings are extremely climate-friendly. The apartments have green roofs that help keep buildings cool in summer. The buildings have great insulation that reduces climate pollution and helps reduce energy bills. And many of the buildings are free from polluting fossil fuels.

New apartment buildings in Vienna have solar on the roofs, massive electric heat pumps and geothermal energy, which involves drilling into the ground to heat homes.

You may be wondering … how is Vienna doing all this with their cheap rental apartments?

The answer comes down to Vienna’s “social housing” system — housing that’s either owned or subsidized by the city government. About half of Vienna’s residents live in it, so about a million people.

We tell you all about how Vienna’s green social housing works in our brand new article and podcast.

We take you to the apartments and introduce you to a friendly resident who gives us a tour that ends up being quite moving.

And we explain how the city pays for it, and how Vienna uses a unique competitive system to drive climate innovation. “Because the financing is smart,” says Daniel Aldana Cohen, co-director of the Climate and Community Institute, “you get the result: beautiful, affordable housing that fights climate change.”

It turns out I’m not the only one taken by Vienna’s city-built and city-subsidized apartments. Politicians from across the U.S. are visiting Vienna to learn how to build climate-friendly affordable housing.

Politicians from Chicago, Denver and New York told NPR that even as the U.S. federal government backtracks on climate action, they are building green social housing on the local level. Chicago even recently passed a “green social housing ordinance.” (And yes, one of the politicians in Chicago's mayor’s office tells us how she, too, visited Vienna.)

To learn more about how Vienna is using social housing to combat climate change – and how U.S. politicians are starting to build this kind of housing in America – check out our story.

This is part of NPR’s week of programming about climate solutions and housing. You can find all the stories here.

(And if you have any tips on an affordable apartment in the Bay Area that’s also beautiful and climate-friendly, let me know!)

Check out more great reads from the NPR network you may have missed:

➡️ Barstool Sports founder Dave Portnoy recently sat down with Morning Edition host Steve Inskeep to discuss why he voted for President Trump and whether he could support Democrats. Portnoy is a prominent figure in the “manosphere” and often addresses the interests of many male voters. Read what he had to say or watch the video.

➡️ For months, people on social media have been discussing potential recession indicators. This trend is not new. For generations, individuals have searched for subtle, informal signs that a recession might be on the way. Here are some examples that have emerged over the years.

➡️ Firearm injuries are the leading cause of death among children. A new study indicates that state laws play a significant role in preventing these deaths. Between 2011 and 2023, states with permissive gun laws saw an increase in pediatric deaths from firearm injuries, while states with stricter laws did not see the same rise.

➡️ There has been an unexpected surge in the number of people applying for retirement benefits this spring. This rise is concerning because, for most people, it’s financially wise to delay claiming benefits for as long as they are able to. These are some key reasons why claims have jumped.

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Podcast club

A black and white photo of Frances Perkins, the Secretary of Labour in Roosevelt's cabinet, arriving in Plymouth aboard the U.S. liner Washington en route to Geneva. She is seen wearing a dark beret, a dark double-breasted jacket and a fur neckpiece.

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Thanks for tuning in last week to the Short Wave episode, “Nature Quest: The Climate-Kid Question.” The episode explores how Gen Z and younger millennials are the most climate-conscious generations in history. Experts offer insights on how to raise children in a way that benefits both their well-being and the health of the planet.

Today, we’re listening to Throughline. “The Woman Behind The New Deal” discusses how Frances Perkins transformed the way people in the U.S. lived and worked, influencing everything from Social Security to exit signs and fire escapes. Perkins, a middle-class advocate, became one of the most knowledgeable and powerful figures in American politics serving as secretary of labor. Listen to the episode or read the transcript here.

Perkins’ influence is still prominent in everyday life. Listen to this episode and let us know how she has impacted you. Your response could be featured in next week’s newsletter.

The House has voted to defund public radio.

The House has voted to claw back all federal funding for public media, and the proposal now moves to the Senate. We’re running out of time to protect public radio’s essential news, music, and emergency broadcast services to communities across the nation. But you can still stand up for public radio.

Spend 10 seconds at the link below. The consequences of this vote fall directly on the Americans who rely on local, independent stations serving communities across the country. Don’t abandon them now.

SAVE PUBLIC MEDIA ➔

Name two, start with three

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It's time for the Sunday Puzzle! For today's on-air challenge, name two examples of the prompt. You'll be given the first three letters. For example, if I asked you to name two occupations starting with the letters ENG-, you might say Engineer and Engraver. Test your skills here. Check this page later to hear the answers, or catch them live on Weekend Edition at 8:41 a.m.

This week's online challenge comes from listener Evan Kalish, of Bayside, N.Y. Take a child’s game, in eight letters. Change the sixth letter to ‘ch’ and, phonetically, you'll have a popular animated children’s character. What are the game and the character?. Submit your answer here and you could win a chance to play next Sunday's on-air puzzle.

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