New York City in brief

As New York City’s housing crisis festers, the City Council has waved through a clutch of laws to channel more subsidised units to the poorest families and halt the vanishing of affordable homes. Among them is COPA, giving community groups first dibs on buying buildings, and a rule requiring new builds to include more family-sized, owned units—a modest doubling to 4%, but still not quite a home run.

A new report from the Real Estate Board of New York finds New York City’s homebuilding pace lagging far behind consensus targets—housing experts and politicians, from Mayor Eric Adams to Albany lawmakers, mutter that hundreds of thousands of new homes are needed, yet precious few break ground. City officials can tally the deficit all they like; unfortunately, statistics seldom keep the rain out.

Ninety-seven percent of nurses at 12 private New York City hospitals have voted to authorize a strike if no deal materializes by December 31st, threatening a disruption that could rival the city’s 2023 walkout. The New York State Nurses Association seeks raises, safer staffing, and curbs on artificial intelligence, while hospital bosses, bracing for federal Medicaid cuts, warn of financial ruin—clearly, not everyone finds “care” a cost-effective commodity.

On January 1st, 2026, New York will nudge its minimum wage up by 50 cents—to $17 per hour in Gotham, Long Island, and Westchester, and to $16 elsewhere—courtesy of Governor Kathy Hochul’s inflation-tethering bargain with the legislature. From 2027, future bumps will track a regional consumer-price index, unless joblessness spikes, in which case the “hard workers” must wait—proof that economic gravity remains undefeated.

As Mayor Eric Adams secures three key appointments to New York City’s Rent Guidelines Board—effectively cementing policy until 2026—we note this artful sidestep of incoming Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s rent freeze pledge. Data suggest landlords’ net income jumped 48% after inflation since 1990, while rent hikes outpaced cost rises by 8%; tenants hoping for relief may instead get a masterclass in regulatory inertia.