The Weekly Wrap: COPA Passes New York City Council, Mamdani Expected To Sign

Welcome back to The Weekly Wrap, our Friday roundup of stories that explain the problems oppressing people in cities and elevate the solutions that bring us closer to economic, environmental, and social justice. If you enjoy this newsletter, share it with a friend or colleague and tell them to .

‘Community Opportunity To Purchase’ Nears Victory in New York City

On Thursday, New York City Council voted to pass the Community Opportunity to Purchase Act (COPA) on its second attempt in the last 12 months, City Limits reports. Designed to help preserve affordable housing, the legislation will give qualified nonprofits and community land trusts a chance to buy dilapidated apartment buildings before they hit the open market.

This policy differs from the version that was vetoed by then-Mayor Eric Adams in December 2025, in that it offers a shorter window of time for nonprofits to purchase an eligible building and has more narrowly defined what buildings may qualify. The bill has faced opposition from real estate developers and landlord groups and was not put forward for a vote by Speaker Julie Menin until after this change was made.

According to the Department of Housing Preservation, roughly 2,100 properties would currently qualify. Mayor Zohran Mamdani, who has championed the policy and named it among his legislative priorities in his 2026 housing plan, is widely expected to sign the bill into law.

Oregon Hospitals Are Proactively Offering Financial Aid, And It’s Working

Oregon hospitals have started proactively screening patients and giving financial aid to people who qualified for it, in accordance with a law enacted in 2024. KFF Health News reports that the requirement is successfully alleviating people’s healthcare costs burdens.

This comes at a time when millions of people are projected to lose health insurance in coming years under cuts to Medicaid and when millions of people already have medical debt.

Oregon is not the only state taking this approach. North Carolina, California, and Delaware are following closely behind with similar requirements for hospitals to automatically grant or screen for financial aid.

But the proactive screening approach is not without pushback. Hospitals have expressed concerns about their screening tools and the financial strain they also face from the Trump administration’s cuts

Seattle’s Social Housing Is Under Construction

The Seattle Social Housing Developer (SSHD) announced its first construction project this week, the Capitol Hill Seattle blog reports. The five-story apartment building in the city’s Central District will provide 20 units of housing, leased at a mix of affordable and market-rate rents. Developers are expecting to break ground in fall 2027, with housing being ready to occupy in 2028.

This project follows the SSHD's May acquisition of a 150-unit building in Seattle’s Belltown neighborhood. Together, these projects contribute to the agency’s goal of having 1,000 units owned or in the pipeline by the end of 2027, according to The Stranger.

SSHD was created by voters in 2023 to acquire and construct mixed-income housing and keep it permanently affordable and under the city’s ownership. The housing authority was given a funding structure — a tax on Big Tech companies — by voters in 2025.

California Demonstrates a Way To Radically Remake the Power Grid

During a recent heatwave across the state of California, a flexible grid proved that it can help absorb spikes in demand. “Home batteries from Tesla and Sunrun provided enough to power every home in San Francisco and San Jose, whose combined population is about 1.8 million, during peak hours,” Grist reports.

This type of adaptability is good for everyone who relies on the power grid, according to Common Charge, an energy-focused nonprofit, because it helps stabilize the grid and saves people money, even those who do not have solar or batteries at their residences.

New England Communities Are Restricting or Banning Data Center Development

When an entrepreneur in New Hampshire reached out to the Nottingham Planning Board to have an initial conversation about converting a warehouse to a data center, more than 240 people signed up to give public comment, New Hampshire Public Radio reports. This was after the discussion was pulled from the agenda because of public backlash. Following the meeting, the planning board established a one-year moratorium on data center construction.

Local control isn’t new for New England towns. Now more municipalities are using that power to restrict or ban data center projects before they are even on the table

MORE NEWS

• ER visits dropped where NYC provided free eviction lawyers, new research shows. The City Reporter

• This Illinois law was supposed to help families. It’s failing them instead. Chicago Sun-Times

• The people who are transforming Philly’s vacant lots into green space. The Guardian

• In Chicago, historic Hull House shares lessons on urban farming. Civil Eats

• City adds three businesses to 'bad actors' list for alleged wage theft. Philly Voice

• ‘Nothing and no one is off the table for NSPM-7,’ warns analysis of Trump crackdown on dissent. Common Dreams

• At the Wall of Wind, engineers blow homes apart to learn how to save them. Grist

OPPORTUNITIES & RESOURCES

• DEADLINE TODAY: Microsoft Community-First Grants are accepting applications for funding support for nonprofits serving King County, Washington, advancing civic life; education and workforce development, housing, human services, and basic needs; and sustainability and transportation. Apply by Oct. 23.

• Max and Victoria Dreyfus Foundation is considering grant requests from community-based nonprofits including museums, cultural and performing arts programs, schools and hospitals, youth, senior, and disability programs, environmental and wildlife protection. Apply by Nov. 10.

• The OpenAI Foundation and The Rockefeller Foundation’s new $50 million Cities Deliver initiative is supporting organizations working with city governments to put AI to work to improve public health, expand economic mobility, strengthen environmental resilience, and strengthen civic engagement. Apply by Nov. 29.

• The America250 Community Futures Challenge is accepting applications from 501(c)(3) nonprofits advancing workforce development, economic mobility, public infrastructure, civic tech, entrepreneurship, community development, and more. Apply by Nov. 30.