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Friday, May 15, 2026

Dear New Yorkers,

What happens to an affordable, lottery-filled apartment when a tenant moves out? Who gets that vacant spot?

It used to be that all those affordable “re-rentals” had to go through their own mini-lottery, a long, bureaucratic slog that took months.

But for the past year, the city has done away with that process, allowing housing operators to market and lease those newly empty apartments directly to qualified New Yorkers searching for housing.

Turns out, it worked so well that the city is extending that new rule for another year, THE CITY has learned. Here’s why building managers love the new rules — and how tenants can find those precious units.

Weather 🌤️

Partly sunny with a high near 62.

MTA 🚇

In Queens, Jamaica Center-bound E trains stop at 75 Ave. and Briarwood from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Find all the MTA’s planned changes and the latest delays here.

Alternate side parking 🚙

It’s in effect today, May 15.

By the way…

Tomorrow is Brooklyn Bridge Park’s annual Kite Festival — the one day of the year when kite flying is open to the public. There will be a limited number of kite giveaways and kites available to borrow.

Our Other Top Stories

It was a scene that would have seemed unthinkable a decade ago: Rep. Adriano Espaillat, stumping on 125th Street, flanked by Black political leaders rallying to help the five-term member of Congress keep his seat. What’s going on in District 13? The race in Upper Manhattan and a chunk of The Bronx has quietly emerged as one of the hottest primaries in an unusually active midterm cycle in the city.  Days after Mayor Eric Adams took office, his hand-picked correction commissioner ousted the official overseeing thousands of backlogged use-of-force investigations inside the city jail system. More than four years later, she’s back.

SPONSORED Keep This in Mind to Help Avoid Scams: How to Pay When Buying From Someone You Don’t Know   [chase.com/digital/resources/privacy-security] Credit cards, debit cards, cash, checks, wires or sending money to others using a P2P (person-to-person) payment app are examples of the many ways consumers can pay for everyday transactions. To help protect their money from scammers, it’s important for people to understand that how they pay matters, especially when buying something from someone they don’t know or trust. Here are some tips from JPMorganChase:  Never make checks out to “cash,” use permanent ink, and write the amount in numbers and words.   For person-to-to person payments, if you are purchasing goods or merchandise, including things like concert tickets, a credit or debit card that offers purchase protection may be a better option.   When using credit and debit cards, two-factor authentication can help block anyone who gets your banking information from using it, and setting up credit monitoring helps you know if your card is used fraudulently.   For wire transfers, never provide your bank account details to unfamiliar or suspicious individuals and avoid wiring money to people or businesses you are unfamiliar with, especially if prompted by suspicious phone calls or emails.     Learn more about protecting your finances at chase.com/digital/resources/privacy-security

Reporter’s Notebook

Second Try for COPA

City Council is taking another shot at the Community Opportunity to Purchase Act, or COPA, a bill then-Mayor Eric Adams vetoed after the body passed it last year.

COPA gives qualified housing groups, including nonprofits and community land trusts, the first chance to make an offer on certain apartment buildings when they go up for sale. The seller can accept or decline that offer. If declined, the property would go to the open market, and the housing group that made an initial bid could match other offers.

“That opportunity will allow these buildings to be acquired by organizations we trust, that we know will be held accountable, that will preserve the affordability in these units and make them better,” said Councilmember Sandy Nurse (D-Brooklyn), the bill’s sponsor, said at a rally Thursday. “They will stabilize our neighborhoods and they will keep our communities here.”

Mayor Zohran Mamdani supported COPA as a candidate, calling it a way to preserve affordable housing and tamp down on real estate speculation.

— Samantha Maldonado

Things To Do

Here’s what’s going on around the city this week.

Friday, May 15: Brooklyn-based group Tilt offers intricate art-pop compositions that blend motifs with improvisation at Lincoln Center. Free, at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, May 16: The American Art Fair celebrates its nineteenth year, featuring over 400 works exhibited by 18 leading specialists in 18th to 21st century American art at the Bohemian National Hall. Open until May 19. Free, from noon to 7 p.m. Sunday, May 17: Join the Amateur Astronomers Association at a “Solar Sunday” observing event where members set up their telescopes and provide instruction on how to find objects in the night sky at Pier I. Free, from 1 to 4 p.m.

THE KICKER: How in the world did a replica of the talking car “Kitt” from Knight RIder receive a speeding ticket from New York City, despite being parked at a museum in Chicago for years?

Thanks, as always, for reading. Make it a great Friday.

Love,

THE CITY

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