An immigrant is born

Neha's story begins in New Delhi, India, but her journey spans continents and cultures. Her family is from the Himalayas but migration due to economic opportunities meant she lived in multiple countries and cities, always adapting to change.

About Neha

Through hard work, she was accepted to liberal arts college Mount Holyoke College and received generous scholarships, and financial aid. Even though her parents were apprehensive to send their daughter alone and by herself to a foreign country, Neha convinced them this would be the education to launch her life. At college, she studied International Policy and Economics, and also worked campus jobs all four years.

Four years later, she would once again receive academic scholarships to get an MBA from George Washington University. She focused her studies on economic development through social entrepreneurship and community investments.

In 2018, Neha became a naturalized U.S. citizen. This sense of security after over a decade of navigating instability as a non-immigrant visa holder allowed her to lean in further into the community. She took some risks and leaps of faith to contribute to her community.

Neha Shah is originally from New Delhi, India. She studied international policy and economics at Mount Holyoke College and earned an MBA from George Washington University, focusing on economic development through social entrepreneurship and community investments. She became a naturalized U.S. citizen in 2018.

Neha Shah studied international policy and economics at Mount Holyoke College and earned an MBA from George Washington University, focusing on economic development through social entrepreneurship and community investments.

She applied to hundreds of jobs, with odds against her as a foreign citizen in the 2008 job market because she needed a visa sponsorship. She slept on friends’ couches till she got a full-time job. She stayed focused, and got hired with an employer-sponsored work visa to work in federal legislation and regulatory policy covering issues from senior care, grid modernization, cybersecurity, and broadband access for over 4 years.

She became a published bilingual Hindi-English children’s book author; she founded a tech startup focused on improving intergenerational relationships using snail mail. And she multiplied her local activism to speak up for the Black Lives Matter movement, call for police accountability, for stricter gun regulations, speak up against Asian hate during COVID, educate around the overturning of Roe v. Wade, and ongoing voter suppression around the country; and most recently vocally protest of the U.S. funding of the Gaza genocide.

Neha Shah worked on federal legislation and regulatory policy. She also founded a tech startup focused on improving intergenerational relationships using snail mail.

# Why subscribe to Neha for Austin City Council?

Neha Shah is a first-time candidate and naturalized citizen running for local elected office in Austin, TX. The goal of this newsletter is to share experiences and insights from life on the campaign trail.

About - Neha for Austin City Council Substack

Neha's campaign for Austin City Council is her first run for public office.

2026 Texas General Election

Keeping Austin One of a Kind — Protecting Small Businesses and Local Character
Neha believes the soul of D3 and Austin lives in our local food, music, art, and cultural history. Chain restaurants and national retailers being imported to fill new mixed-use developments erode the character and appeal of our city. 

Consulting with local businesses before mandating changes to parking requirements and zoning.

Keeping Austin One of a Kind — Protecting Small Businesses and Local Character

Consulting with local businesses before mandating changes to parking requirements and zoning.

Providing tangible resources, support, and communication to businesses impacted by new developments, and property safety concerns.

Proposing a local business first requirement added into every city incentive deal so that any development receiving a height bonus, tax abatement, or Chapter 380 agreement must reserve at least 20% of ground-floor retail space for locally owned Austin businesses at below-market rates.

Providing tangible resources, support, and communication to businesses impacted by new developments, and property safety concerns.

Proposing a local business first requirement added into every city incentive deal so that any development receiving a height bonus, tax abatement, or Chapter 380 agreement must reserve at least 20% of ground-floor retail space for locally owned Austin businesses at below-market rates. Those spaces must be offered to local businesses first before any national or out-of-state chain can sign a lease.

Expanding Austin's Place-Based Enhancement Program (PBEP) by lowering the eligibility threshold from 20 years to 7 years. The current bar locks out hundreds of locally owned businesses that are community-rooted but not old enough to qualify for commercial affordability relief.

Enacting a right of first refusal for small businesses facing lease displacement. Any landlord receiving city incentives must offer an existing local tenant the right to renew in comparable space at their current rent for at least one additional lease term before a new tenant can move in.

Build city rapid response team that activates the moment a mass layoff notice is filed. This will allow connecting displaced workers to retraining programs, rental assistance, and healthcare options during their notice period, potentially preventing a layoff from becoming a missed rent payment that leads to a family losing their home or leaving Austin.

Immigrant Safety

Incentivize companies negotiating and receiving city tax breaks or economic incentives to give workers more notice before layoffs than federal law requires, and set aside money to help those workers recover from job loss. Each layoff from companies that originally promised jobs in-return for tax incentives destabilizes workers and neighborhoods that make this city worth investing in.

Plans to consult local businesses before requiring changes to parking rules or zoning.

Plans to provide resources, support, and communication to businesses affected by new development and property-safety concerns.

Proposes requiring city-incentivized developments to reserve 20% of ground-floor retail space for local businesses at below-market rates.

Proposes expanding Austin's Place-Based Enhancement Program by lowering the business-eligibility threshold from 20 years to seven years.

Proposes renewal rights for local tenants facing lease displacement when their landlords receive city incentives.

Proposes a city rapid-response team to connect workers facing mass layoffs with retraining, rental assistance, and health-care options.

Proposes incentives for companies receiving city tax breaks to provide additional notice of layoffs and job-loss assistance.

- Plans to consult local businesses before requiring changes to parking rules or zoning.
- Plans to provide resources, support, and communication to businesses affected by new development and property-safety concerns.
- Proposes requiring city-incentivized developments to reserve 20% of ground-floor retail space for local businesses at below-market rates.
- Proposes expanding Austin's Place-Based Enhancement Program by lowering the business-eligibility threshold from 20 years to seven years.
- Proposes renewal rights for local tenants facing lease displacement when their landlords receive city incentives.
- Proposes a city rapid-response team to connect workers facing mass layoffs with retraining, rental assistance, and health-care options.
- Proposes incentives for companies receiving city tax breaks to provide additional notice of layoffs and job-loss assistance.

Economy

Neha will push for mobile outreach teams assigned specifically to District 3's highest-need corridors, and aim to expand housing navigator and social worker hours at Terrazas Branch Library and other existing District 3 community facilities.

Dignity for the Homeless

Restore and expand Austin's investment in immigrant legal services. It is problematic that the city cut its own budget for these programs by 10% in March 2026 in spite of its own Commission on Immigrant Affairs unanimously called for restoration.

Bring free public Wi-Fi for every Austinite by ensuring the city's new IKE kiosk network expands beyond downtown into East Austin neighborhoods

Drive educational initiatives and legislation to protect online consumer protections in increasing use of social media and AI-driven fraud and scammer trends.

Digital Inclusion of All Austinites for the 21st Century

Tax Payer Transparency and Citizen Engagement
The City Council structure was designed to include citizen input. However, the reality has seemed to not live up to the promise of our local city government structure. City Council is elected by the public, and so should be accountable to the public.

Push to create real-time public dashboard tracking council votes, city spending, and contract awards. Residents should always know how their tax dollars are spent

Challenge any additional funding or scope reduction to existing infrastructure projects such as Project Connect without clear reporting on the existing spend and path to promised outcomes.

Tax Payer Transparency and Citizen Engagement

Challenge any additional funding or scope reduction to existing infrastructure projects such as Project Connect without clear reporting on the existing spend and path to promised outcomes.

Expand the city council comments from the current 10 speakers per meeting limit to a number reflective for a city of over one million. Invite proposals to increase slots and allow overflow written testimony to be read into the record.

Extend the comment window earlier in the process. There should be more opportunities to provide public comment before agenda items are finalized, not just at the meeting itself, so residents can participate in shaping decisions rather than reacting with anxiety to them.

Extend the comment window earlier in the process. There should be more opportunities to provide public comment before agenda items are finalized, not just at the meeting itself, so residents can participate in shaping decisions rather than reacting with anxiety to them.

Plans mobile outreach teams and expanded hours for housing navigators and social workers at District 3 community facilities, including Terrazas Branch Library.

Plans to restore and expand Austin's investment in immigrant legal services.

Plans to expand the city kiosk network to provide free public Wi-Fi in East Austin neighborhoods.

Plans a real-time public dashboard tracking council votes, city spending, and contract awards.

Proposes increasing City Council public-comment slots and reading overflow written testimony into the record.

Proposes earlier public-comment opportunities before City Council agenda items are finalized.

- Plans mobile outreach teams and expanded hours for housing navigators and social workers at District 3 community facilities, including Terrazas Branch Library.
- Plans to restore and expand Austin's investment in immigrant legal services.
- Plans to expand the city kiosk network to provide free public Wi-Fi in East Austin neighborhoods.
- Plans a real-time public dashboard tracking council votes, city spending, and contract awards.
- Proposes increasing City Council public-comment slots and reading overflow written testimony into the record.
- Proposes earlier public-comment opportunities before City Council agenda items are finalized.

Public Services

Proposals

Amending HOME legislation to require real affordability and penalties for undemonstrated outcomes. There should be no more density bonuses without guaranteed below-market units, and no more displacement of East Austin residents in exchange for speculative market-rate development

Affordability

Expanding Community Land Trust (CLT) designation and property tax exemptions to more community land trusts, and prioritizing city-owned land for CLT development before it ever hits the open market

Preventing Displacement — Strengthen District 3’s Community History and Legacy

Propose a speculative property tax surcharge on vacant lots and rapidly flipped properties in displacement-risk areas. It has been noted that landbanking and speculation are accelerating displacement along East 6th, Montopolis, and the Eastern Crescent.

Preventing Displacement — Strengthen District 3’s Community History and Legacy

Accelerate and complete the 78702 community preservation plan — the city commissioned a study of historically significant properties and public land in Central East Austin in 2024, but it has sat in planning limbo for over a year.

A right to return policy for displaced residents — any new affordable housing development built on formerly occupied land in District 3 must give documented former residents of that neighborhood priority placement and below-market rates

Reviving and expanding Austin's abandoned Household Affordability Tracker. This data can updated annually and reported directly to council, with childcare, transit, and utility costs added alongside housing

Restore council authority over zoning changes in major development agreements. No deal should hand approval power to city staff and strip future councils of the ability to correct course for decades

Environmental Protections

Coordinate with departments within the city government and across the city to create and execute a plan to end chronic homelessness in Austin. Communicate with residential and business communities to create a community-centered solution that tackles realities of our unhoused neighbors, instead of sweeping our socio-economic crisis under the rug.

Stop funding repeat sweeps - Study how we might redirect the dollars spent clearing the same locations over and over into permanent supportive housing units that end the cycle of homelessness.

Technology infrastructure that supports small business growth and remote work. This includes proposing a local ordinance guaranteeing every Austin renter the right to choose their internet provider, challenging landlord ISP lock-in.

Proposes requiring guaranteed below-market units and demonstrated affordability outcomes for density bonuses.

Proposes expanding Community Land Trust designations and tax exemptions and prioritizing city-owned land for Community Land Trust development.

Proposes a property-tax surcharge on vacant lots and rapidly flipped properties in areas at risk of displacement.

Plans to accelerate and complete the 78702 community preservation plan for historically significant properties and public land in Central East Austin.

Proposes prioritizing displaced District 3 residents for below-market homes built on formerly occupied land.

Plans to revive and expand Austin's Household Affordability Tracker to include childcare, transit, utility, and housing costs.

Proposes restoring council authority over zoning changes in major development agreements.

Plans a citywide, community-centered strategy to end chronic homelessness.

Proposes studying whether repeat encampment-sweep spending can be redirected to permanent supportive housing.

Proposes guaranteeing Austin renters the right to choose their internet provider.

- Proposes requiring guaranteed below-market units and demonstrated affordability outcomes for density bonuses.
- Proposes expanding Community Land Trust designations and tax exemptions and prioritizing city-owned land for Community Land Trust development.
- Proposes a property-tax surcharge on vacant lots and rapidly flipped properties in areas at risk of displacement.
- Plans to accelerate and complete the 78702 community preservation plan for historically significant properties and public land in Central East Austin.
- Proposes prioritizing displaced District 3 residents for below-market homes built on formerly occupied land.
- Plans to revive and expand Austin's Household Affordability Tracker to include childcare, transit, utility, and housing costs.
- Proposes restoring council authority over zoning changes in major development agreements.
- Plans a citywide, community-centered strategy to end chronic homelessness.
- Proposes studying whether repeat encampment-sweep spending can be redirected to permanent supportive housing.
- Proposes guaranteeing Austin renters the right to choose their internet provider.

Housing & Urban Development

Public accountability for every encampment sweep (that costs the city $150,000 ). Requiring the city to publish its encampment dashboard by end of 2026, tracking sweep locations, costs, shelter availability at time of sweep, and 90-day housing outcomes is crucial. The written record of every sweep will also show how many people were present, how many were offered shelter, and how many accepted.

Fix the encampment sweep notice loophole - The current policy requires 72 hours notice before a sweep, but that requirement disappears once a site is labeled "keep clear." People who return to a cleared site because shelters are full can lose everything with zero warning. A fix would be to update the 72-hour notice before every single sweep regardless of a site's designation, and also mandate that personal belongings be stored for at least 30 days before disposal

Engage with public safety and community to work with individuals experiencing homelessness separately from instances where there are clear, documented concerns around community safety.  

Tackle gaps in support for city’s unhoused populations.

Strongest possible limits on APD's cooperation with ICE within what Texas law allows. Neha is aware that Austin rolled back its own protections under state pressure; but that retreat had consequences on vulnerable communities. This also impacts faith in public safety and government institutions.

Drive educational initiatives and legislation to protect online consumer protections in increasing use of social media and AI-driven fraud and scammer trends.

Proposes a public dashboard documenting encampment sweeps, including costs, shelter availability, and 90-day housing outcomes.

Proposes 72-hour notice before all encampment sweeps and 30-day storage of personal belongings before disposal.

Plans to distinguish homelessness outreach from cases with clear, documented community-safety concerns.

Supports the strongest limits Texas law allows on Austin Police Department cooperation with Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Plans educational efforts and legislation to protect consumers from online fraud and scams involving social media and artificial intelligence.

- Proposes a public dashboard documenting encampment sweeps, including costs, shelter availability, and 90-day housing outcomes.
- Proposes 72-hour notice before all encampment sweeps and 30-day storage of personal belongings before disposal.
- Plans to distinguish homelessness outreach from cases with clear, documented community-safety concerns.
- Supports the strongest limits Texas law allows on Austin Police Department cooperation with Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
- Plans educational efforts and legislation to protect consumers from online fraud and scams involving social media and artificial intelligence.

Public Safety

Streamline Austin's shift away from car dependency by holding CapMetro accountable to Transit Plan 2035's higher-frequency bus routes in D3 neighborhoods, and completion of a practical and usable Light Rail.

Expanding high-speed internet access to all neighborhoods

Technology infrastructure that supports small business growth and remote work. This includes proposing a local ordinance guaranteeing every Austin renter the right to choose their internet provider, challenging landlord ISP lock-in.

Push to create real-time public dashboard tracking council votes, city spending, and contract awards. Residents should always know how their tax dollars are spent

Challenge any additional funding or scope reduction to existing infrastructure projects such as Project Connect without clear reporting on the existing spend and path to promised outcomes.

Expand the city council comments from the current 10 speakers per meeting limit to a number reflective for a city of over one million. Invite proposals to increase slots and allow overflow written testimony to be read into the record.

Plans to hold Capital Metro accountable for higher-frequency District 3 bus service and the completion of usable light rail.

Plans to expand high-speed internet access to all Austin neighborhoods.

Plans to challenge additional Project Connect funding or scope reductions without public reporting on spending and promised outcomes.

- Plans to hold Capital Metro accountable for higher-frequency District 3 bus service and the completion of usable light rail.
- Plans to expand high-speed internet access to all Austin neighborhoods.
- Plans to challenge additional Project Connect funding or scope reductions without public reporting on spending and promised outcomes.

Transportation & Infrastructure

Amend Austin's Land Development Code to classify large data centers as a distinct use requiring a Conditional Use Permit . This will trigger mandatory public hearings, buffer protections around waterways and neighborhoods, and council approval before any facility that could strain our water or energy grid gets a green light

Timely and informative community notification requirements - Any project affecting District 3's air, water, or natural habitats should include multilingual outreach, and must have a minimum 25-day public comment period, and a community hearing before council votes

Proposes conditional-use permits, hearings, buffers, and council approval for large data centers that may strain water or energy systems.

Proposes multilingual outreach, a 25-day comment period, and a council hearing for District 3 projects affecting air, water, or habitat.

- Proposes conditional-use permits, hearings, buffers, and council approval for large data centers that may strain water or energy systems.
- Proposes multilingual outreach, a 25-day comment period, and a council hearing for District 3 projects affecting air, water, or habitat.

Energy & the Environment

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Isaac Brickman

Buket Urgen

Brock Skinner

Eduardo “Lalito” Romero

Gavin Fernandez Jr.

José Velásquez

- City council members collaborate to create and enforce city policies, including legislation on essential services like police, fire, parks, libraries, and utilities.
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