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

Advocates putting up a sign in Foley Square Tuesday morning, ahead of a rally for social housing bills under consideration in the City Council. (Photo by Adi Talwar)

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 week’s roundup? Email us.

ICYMI, from City Limits:

The Trump administration released more details on the president’s 2026 budget proposal, which local experts say would be “disastrous” for New York City’s housing agencies. If it comes to pass, it could cut city housing programs by up to 42 percent, with the biggest impact on low income renters, including NYCHA tenants.

Advocates and City Council members are making a renewed push to pass a package of “social housing” bills aimed at de-privatizing residential properties across the five boroughs, creating more opportunities for community land trusts and nonprofit ownership.

Want to know if a building has rent-stabilized apartments? A new law will require city landlords to post signs in their properties’ common areas disclosing as much—an effort to help tenants challenge overcharges and illegal rent hikes.

The debate over who should get to make land use and development decisions continues. “I suggest the creation of a new city position, the Zoning Administrator, who would be entrusted with approvals expected to result in few real-world adverse effects,” Manhattan Institute’s Eric Kober argues in an oped.

City Limits just welcomed two new housing reporters! Patrick Spauster (patrick@citylimits.org) joins as our new housing and homelessness reporter, while CUNY Newmark intern Tareq Saghie (Tareq@citylimits.org) will spend the summer reporting on tenant issues. Send them story tips!

ICYMI, from other local newsrooms:

Former Gov. Andrew Cuomo said he’s been endorsed by several NYCHA tenant leaders in the race for mayor—but at least seven of those public housing residents said that’s not the case, according to reporting by The City.

City Councilmember and Land Use Chair Rafael Salamanca Jr., who is running for Bronx Borough President, has raked in significant campaign money from the city’s developers, some of whom have given both to his current election bid and to another campaign committee for an unpaid position in the Bronx Democratic Party, New York Focus reports.

Brooklyn leaders are slamming the state for not enforcing pricey penalties against the developers behind the Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park project, who’ve failed to deliver on promised affordable housing by a May 31 deadline, according to Gothamist.

Here’s what the Democratic candidates for mayor pay for their housing, per Politico.

A pastor in East New York is looking to help slow the exodus of Black New Yorkers priced out of the city by building affordable apartments, the New York Times reports.

The post What Happened This Week in NYC Housing? June 6, 2025 appeared first on City Limits.

Jurors on Friday found Derrick John Thompson guilty of all charges in his murder trial for the high-speed crash that killed five young women nearly two years ago.

The verdict was reached after about nine hours of deliberations over two days.

Thompson, the 29-year-old son of a former St. Paul state representative, is guilty of five counts of third-degree murder and 10 counts of criminal vehicular homicide for operating a motor vehicle in a grossly negligent manner and leaving the scene of an accident.

Prosecutors say Thompson was driving 95 mph on Interstate 35W in a rented Cadillac Escalade SUV when he passed a Minnesota State Trooper, exited on Lake Street at 116 mph, and then ran a red light at Second Avenue, crashing into the victims’ Honda Civic just after 10 p.m. June 16, 2023.

Pronounced dead at the scene were Salma Mohamed Abdikadir, 20, of St. Louis Park; Sabiriin Mohamoud Ali, 17, of Bloomington; Sahra Liban Gesaade, 20, of Brooklyn Center; Sagal Burhaan Hersi, 19, of Minneapolis, and Siham Adan Odhowa, 19, of Minneapolis. They were returning from preparing for a friend’s wedding, which was to be the next day.

In September, prosecutors added the five counts of third-degree murder, which is defined in state statute as “perpetrating an act eminently dangerous to others and evincing a depraved mind, without regard for human life.”

“Members of the jury, not every murder is calculated or considered,” Assistant Hennepin County Attorney Paige Starkey said Thursday in the state’s closing arguments. “Not every murder is directed at a particular person or people.”

This is a breaking news story. Check back for more details.

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WASHINGTON (AP) — Kilmar Abrego Garcia, whose mistaken deportation to El Salvador became a political flashpoint in the Trump administration’s stepped-up immigration enforcement, was being returned to the United States to face criminal charges related to what the Trump administration said was a massive human smuggling operation that brought immigrants into the country illegally.

He is expected to be prosecuted in the U.S. and, if convicted, will be returned to his home country in El Salvador at the conclusion of the case, officials said Friday.

“This is what American justice looks like,” Attorney General Pam Bondi said Friday in announcing the return of Abrego Garcia and the criminal charges.

The charges stem from a 2022 vehicle stop in which the Tennessee Highway Patrol suspected him of human trafficking. A report released by the Department of Homeland Security in April states that none of the people in the vehicle had luggage, while they listed the same address as Abrego Garcia.

Abrego Garcia was never charged with a crime, while the officers allowed him to drive on with only a warning about an expired driver’s license, according to the DHS report. The report said he was traveling from Texas to Maryland, via Missouri, to bring in people to perform construction work.

In response to the report’s release in April, Abrego Garcia’s wife said in a statement that he sometimes transported groups of workers between job sites, “so it’s entirely plausible he would have been pulled over while driving with others in the vehicle. He was not charged with any crime or cited for any wrongdoing.”

The Trump administration has been publicizing Abrego Garcia’s interactions with police over the years, despite a lack of corresponding criminal charges, while it faces a federal court order and calls from some in Congress to return him to the U.S.

Authorities in Tennessee released video of a 2022 traffic stop last month. The body-camera footage shows a calm and friendly exchange between officers with the Tennessee Highway Patrol.

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Officers then discussed among themselves their suspicions of human trafficking because nine people were traveling without luggage. One of the officers said, “He’s hauling these people for money.” Another said he had $1,400 in an envelope.

An attorney for Abrego Garcia, Simon Sandoval-Moshenberg, said in a statement after the footage’s release in May that he saw no evidence of a crime in the released footage.

“But the point is not the traffic stop — it’s that Mr. Abrego Garcia deserves his day in court,” Sandoval-Moshenberg said.

The move comes days after the Trump administration complied with a court order to return a Guatemalan ma n deported to Mexico despite his fears of being harmed there. The man, identified in court papers as O.C.G, was the first person known to have been returned to U.S. custody after deportation since the start of President Donald Trump’s second term.

ORLANDO, Fla. — Two of Florida’s Gulf Coast beaches have been recognized among the top 10 beaches in America, according to an annual ranking from Dr. Beach.

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The 2025 list includes Delnor-Wiggins Pass State Park in Naples at spot number four and St. Andrews State Park in Panama City at spot number seven. Coopers Beach in Southampton, New York, took the top spot in this year’s annual ranking that Dr. Stephen Leatherman has been compiling since 1991.

The Florida International University professor considers 50 factors when selecting the nation’s best beaches each year. Some of the criteria are beach material (fine sand ranks highest), air and water temperature, number of sunny days, wildlife, litter and development.

Hawaii’s beaches took four of the top 10 spots on the list, which also honored stretches of sand in South Carolina, Massachusetts and one other New York beach.

Since 2016, Florida beaches have landed at the top of the list three times including St. George Island State Park in the Panhandle in 2023. The 2020 winner was Grayton Beach State Park while Siesta Beach on Siesta Key was named number one in 2017. These top beaches were removed from contention for this year’s title after winning previously.

Caladesi Island State Park came in number four last year but was taken out of consideration for this year’s list; the beach is still closed amid ongoing recovery efforts following 2024’s tumultuous hurricane season.

Delnor-Wiggins Pass ranked number eight on last year’s list and moved up four spots for 2025.

“This barrier island beach boasts of beautiful white sand beaches and crystal-clear Gulf waters,” Leatherman writes on his website. “Activities include swimming, snorkeling, paddle boarding, shelling, and fishing. Wildlife in the park includes bald eagles, ospreys, and manatees. Pine trees provide welcome shade.”

St. Andrews State Park near Panama City Beach, is one of the coast’s best snorkeling and diving destinations. (Andrew Wardlow/Associated Press)

As for St. Andrews State Park, which has  Leatherman notes that “This strikingly white sandy beach is great for shelling and bird watching. Swimming and snorkeling are popular in both the Gulf of America and St. Andrews Bay on the other side.”

Top 10 US beaches for 2025

Coopers Beach, Southampton, New York
Wailea Beach, Maui, Hawaii
Poipu Beach, Kauai, Hawaii
Delnor-Wiggins Pass State Park, Naples, Florida
Main Beach, East Hampton, New York
Beachwalker Park, Kiawah Island, South Carolina
St. Andrews State Park, Panama City, Florida
Kaunaoa, Big Island, Hawaii
Lanikai Beach, Oahu, Hawaii
Coast Guard Beach, Cape Cod, Massachusetts

Find me @PConnPie on Instagram or send me an email: pconnolly@orlandosentinel.com.