What Happened This Week in NYC Housing? July 18, 2025 – City Limits

Each Friday, City Limits rounds up the latest news on housing, land use and homelessness. Catch up on what you might have missed here.

Welcome to “What Happened This Week in NYC Housing?” where we compile the latest local news about housing, land use and homelessness.

Know of a story we should include in next Friday’s roundup? Email us.

ICYMI, from City Limits:

• Nonprofit legal providers at the Urban Justice Center and the New York Legal Assistance Group (NYLAG)—including housing attorneys who represent low income tenants—went on strike this week over wages, caseloads and other issues. They face a more worker-friendly political landscape than they did in the last strike of this magnitude, which took place under the Giuliani administration in 1994.
• The Trump administration’s plan to exclude undocumented children from Head Start programs, which support low-income and homeless families, will almost certainly have an impact on services in New York City, though providers are unsure of the scale, as they’ve never had to track participants’ immigration status before.
• Independent mayoral candidate Jim Walden lays out his housing plan for City Limits’ readers, including a proposal to set affordable housing rents at 25 percent of each borough’s median income.

ICYMI, from other local newsrooms:

• Mayoral candidate Andrew Cuomo says he wants to repeal the state’s Urstadt Law, which gives Albany control over New York City’s rent regulations (though he never sought to do so during his time as governor), Gothamist reports.
• A look at the TikTok strategy of Kenny Burgos, head one of the city’s main landlord groups, via Hell Gate.
• The city released long-awaited rules for homeowners looking to build backyard and basement units, according to Crain’s (subscription required.)
• The number of building permits filed by developers jumped 43 percent in the second quarter of the year, City & State reports.
• City Hall mounted its first legal defense this week against a lawsuit challenging the mayor’s City of Yes for Housing plan, according to the Queens Eagle.