Meet Mike
Mike Nahas is running for Austin City Council District 1. He is an economist, with a Master's in Economics from UT-Austin, and has worked in finance.
Since 2018, he has worked to lower the rent. He joined AURA, Austin's YIMBY organization, and was elected to its board. He pushed for policies recommended by top economists, such as shrinking the minimum lot size. City Council passed those laws and rents in Austin have fallen: down $150 per month since 2018. (Source: Zillow, adjusted for inflation.) That drop is the best of any large city in the country.
Mike was appointed to Austin's Economic Prosperity Commission and was elected Chair by his fellow commissioners. While there, he spent 100 hours doing a deep dive into Austin's retirement funds. He found Austin has underfunded the pensions by $3.1 billion. That underfunding acts like debt and the interest amounts to $450 per family each year. And the City's plan is to borrow more for the next 4 years.
Mike is running to lower housing costs even more, fix the pension issue, and make sure the city government spends better.