
The Supreme Court is photographed, Friday, Feb. 6, 2026, in Washington. (Photo by Rahmat Gul / AP)
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.
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Supreme Court Strikes Down Trump’s Tariffs
On Friday morning, the Supreme Court ruled 6-3 that Trump overstepped his authority in invoking emergency presidential powers to impose sweeping global tariffs, the Associated Press reports. The majority found that the Congress must authorize actions of major economic and political significance, with the Constitution “very clearly” giving Congress — not the Executive Branch — the power to impose taxes.
Beyond international relations, the back-and-forth on tariffs has also hurt urban economic development domestically, crippling the construction sector and housing development, train car construction and more. Late last year, the left-leaning Center for American Progress found that tariff-induced higher building costs could result in 450,000 fewer homes being built in the next five years.
Local Communities Are Successfully Pressuring Warehouse Owners Not To Sell to ICE
The past few months have brought reports of the Department of Homeland Security going on a national buying spree, buying up millions of square feet of warehouses and industrial buildings to be retrofitted as immigration detention centers. But the Constitution’s supremacy clause and local zoning laws’ inability to deter the federal government “leaves cities with limited influence over projects that could take industrial space off tax rolls, cause new strains on city services and raise serious humanitarian concerns given the Trump administration’s aggressive immigration enforcement,” Stateline reports. So local communities are turning to the court of public opinion.
The Marshall Project reports that some local efforts to pressure property owners not to sell have seen success. In Kansas City, following a city council vote to block federal detention center permits, a company backtracked on plans to sell its commercial property to the federal government. In Salt Lake City, a property owner said it had “no plans” to sell or lease the property to the federal government after county Mayor Jenny Wilson promised to use “all available legal and policy avenues” to oppose the DHS warehouse that was being planned there. Threats to boycott one property owner’s companies also halted the sale of a Virginia warehouse.
Meanwhile in California, LAist reports that the Los Angeles City Council is moving to revive a zoning law that would ban private detention facilities from contracting with federal immigration agencies to hold unaccompanied children.
Study Finds Affordable Housing Eviction Rates Differ Based on Property Ownership and Management
A new study published in the journal Housing Policy Debate found significant differences in eviction filing rates among various types of owners and managers within different subsidized housing programs.
Portland State University’s Evicted in Oregon research project found that Low-Income Housing Tax Credit properties that were owned by housing authorities and self-managed showed lower eviction filing rates than those managed by third parties. Nonprofit-owned Project-Based Rental Assistance properties and housing-authority-owned, self-managed Public Housing properties saw lower rates than for-profit-owned, contract-managed properties within the LIHTC program.
The study, based on an analysis of eviction filings by Oregon multifamily subsidized housing properties, also recommends strategies for affordable housing funding agencies to make eviction reduction a core objective.
Wyoming Has a Novel Plan To Keep Its Federal Grant Funds Going Forever
KFF Health News and The Daily Yonder report that Wyoming officials hope to invest funds received from the federal Rural Health Transformation Program in order to generate $28.5 million for the state to spend every year.
While the federal grant money must be spent by 2032 and can’t be used to “fund an endowment, capital fund, or other vehicle resembling an investment fund with the purpose of generating income,” Wyoming’s Rural Health Transformation Perpetuity fund would directly fund health students’ education and help support small hospitals and rural ambulance services – if the federal Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services approve of the maneuver.
Federal Threats To Transportation Funding Over Immigration Are Mounting
After the Trump administration threatened to withhold federal transportation funds, New York’s DMV has stopped issuing commercial driver licenses to many immigrants through its “non-domiciled” program, Gothamist reports.
The state adjusted policies amid threats from the Trump administration to withhold $73 million in highway funding if states did not cease issuing commercial driver licenses to many noncitizen applicants. The city says as many as 200,000 immigrants could be put out of work, including school bus drivers and MTA drivers.
Meanwhile, Politico reports that the Department of Transportation is also seeking to ban state and local governments from using federal transit money to help migrants elude federal immigration enforcement. In practice, insiders say, that could mean pulling federal funds over providing any free transportation to migrants.
New York Announces Major Investment To Enable New Rochelle Downtown Reconnection Project
New York Governor Kathy Hochul this week announced a $16 million state investment in the City of New Rochelle’s LINC Project, filling the financing gap left following the federal government’s funding clawback, to replace ‘60s highway infrastructure that divided a historically Black neighborhood with a linear park and community connector.
Later this year, the city will move forward with phase one of the project, which aims to transform a section of the six-lane Memorial Highway — a Robert Moses special — into a local street and green corridor, connecting downtown, the train station, the public library and Lincoln Avenue with active mobility infrastructure and public space.
MORE NEWS:
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NYC takes a major step forward to freeze rents. Globe St.
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Dallas transit might avert a major funding crisis as suburbs fight to avoid paying for public transit. Streetsblog
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Holdout Massachusetts towns gingerly move toward compliance on MBTA housing law. Commonwealth Beacon
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Nearly half of L.A. County’s pavement may be unnecessary, new map finds. L.A. Times
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Washoe Tribe secures 10,274 acres in Sierra Nevada homelands. Tribal Business News
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Affordable housing residents near Portland ICE building ask judge to limit use of tear gas. Associated Press
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Report: NYC rides through apps are wheelchair-accessible only 7% of the time. The City
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Colorado would become the first state to fully legalize prostitution under new bill. Colorado Sun
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Factory-built housing hasn’t taken off in California yet. This year might be different. CalMatters
OPPORTUNITIES & RESOURCES
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DEADLINE TODAY: The Greenlining Institute’s Leadership Academy is accepting applications for its 11-month fellowship (apply by March 20) and 10-week summer associate programs (apply by Feb. 20).
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Smart Growth America’s Outside In Arts and Culture Fellowship is seeking Asian American and Pacific Islander social practice or community-engaged artists and cultural workers across the American South. Apply by Feb. 27.
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The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s Local Data for Equitable Communities grant program invites proposals from U.S. nonprofits to collect, analyze and use data to address inequities in the physical, economic and social conditions of a place. Apply by March 3. (Disclosure: RWJF is one of Next City’s funders.)
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The Lincoln Institute of Land Policy is accepting applications for a 24-week graduate education program in Chicago for public and private sector leaders advancing sustainable community development. Apply by March 3.
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The Climate Smart Communities Initiative has launched a grants competition for funding and assistance to support community-based climate resilience in vulnerable communities. Apply by March 12.
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The First Nations Development Institute is awarding grants to Native-led and Native-serving organizations working to establish and safeguard Native food traditions, including projects related to maternal health, K-12 schools and governance policies. Apply by March 17.
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Scotland’s Urban Studies Foundation is providing seed-funding for collaborative primary research proposals from around the world that engage with the theme “urban urgencies.” Apply by March 23.
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The Sparkplug Foundation is offering grants to support early-stage programs that focus on music programs, community organizing and education. Apply by May 22.
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The Draper Richards Kaplan is providing up to $300,000 in grant funding or investment capital over a three-year period to organizations that are working to tackle environmental justice issues. Apply on a rolling basis.
This article is part of The Weekly Wrap, a newsletter rounding up stories that explain the problems oppressing people in cities and elevate the solutions bringing us closer to economic, environmental and social justice. Click here to subscribe to The Weekly Wrap newsletter.
This post was originally published on Next City.