{"id":139210,"date":"2026-02-19T21:07:18","date_gmt":"2026-02-19T21:07:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/139210\/"},"modified":"2026-02-19T21:07:18","modified_gmt":"2026-02-19T21:07:18","slug":"mamdani-co-signs-comeback-of-nonprofit-property-copa-bill-vetoed-by-adams","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/139210\/","title":{"rendered":"Mamdani co-signs comeback of nonprofit property COPA bill vetoed by Adams"},"content":{"rendered":"

A hotly debated housing bill that would give nonprofits first dibs on property purchases \u2014 vetoed<\/a> by former Mayor Eric Adams hours before he left office \u2014 is likely to get a new chance to pass under the Mamdani administration. Its sponsor is already\u00a0anticipating lawsuits attempting to stop it.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Community Opportunity to Purchase Act<\/a> would keep housing in the hands of the community and curb landlords selling to big property groups, say advocates and bill sponsor Council Member Sandy Nurse.\u00a0<\/p>\n

It does so, Nurse said, by giving qualified groups like community land trusts the right of first refusal on distressed residential buildings with four or more units. The nonprofits have 25 days to submit a statement of interest, then 80 days to make an official offer on the property before other buyers can take a shot at it.<\/p>\n

Since the city began considering COPA five years ago, it\u2019s faced sharp criticism from the real estate industry and Republican council members who say it would open the city up to legal challenges. Critics argue the bill violates private property rights, a landlord\u2019s right to freedom of contract and the Constitution\u2019s takings clause.<\/p>\n

Nurse said she\u2019d been told by the city\u2019s Law Department her legislation was legally defensible before the council passed<\/a> it with a 31-10 vote in December.\u00a0<\/p>\n

However, the city\u2019s Law Department later reached out to Nurse to raise legal red flags \u2014 doing so days before she was set to bring COPA back to the floor in an attempt to override Adams\u2019 last-minute veto. Nurse called the move \u201cextremely frustrating\u201d and an example of the \u201cchaotic nature and disorganization\u201d of the Adams administration.<\/p>\n

Now, Nurse said, she and her team are working with the Law Department and \u201cseeking to propose some new language to address the concerns.\u201d She declined to share what those concerns were, as discussions were still ongoing.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Law Department told us the bill was defensible, but they wanted to make it even stronger \u2026 because of the amount of attention on the bill and because the real estate industry spent so much time trying to oppose the legislation,\u201d Nurse said. \u201cWe want to make sure that it is as strong as possible in anticipating somebody wanting to sue the council over the legislation.\u201d<\/p>\n

The council member said she had \u201cevery intention to pass this legislation,\u201d and was working as quickly as possible to reintroduce it.\u00a0\u00a0\n<\/p>\n

Mayor Zohran Mamdani, who supported COPA on the campaign trail, said he\u2019d work with the council to ensure it passes.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n

His office told amNewYork Law the act would give tenants \u201ca real opportunity to shape the future of their homes.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

\u201cOur administration looks forward to working closely with Council Member Nurse to reintroduce and pass the legislation,\u201d a spokesperson for Mamdani said in a statement.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

The future of COPA<\/p>\n

City Council Speaker Julie Menin brought up the COPA legal advising mishap when she spoke earlier this month at the confirmation hearing<\/a> for Steve Banks as head of the Law Department.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Menin said the failure demonstrated that the council needs proactive legal opinions on bills.\u00a0\u00a0\n<\/p>\n

\u201cIt put the council in a very difficult situation where, weeks after the bill passes, we are hearing red flags from the Law Department,\u201d Menin told Banks. \u201cThat cannot happen again.\u201d<\/p>\n

Banks promised the speaker nothing similar would happen under his leadership, adding that he had already spoken with Nurse about the bill and that they had \u201ctalked about ways to try to move forward\u201d with the legislation. When asked for more details after the hearing, the Law Department said it couldn\u2019t comment on privileged communications.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Menin, who abstained from voting on COPA last year, didn\u2019t respond to questions from amNewYork Law regarding the nature of the red flags and whether she\u2019d support the bill upon reintroduction. A spokesperson for the council told amNewYork Law Menin \u201cis committed to working with her colleagues and stakeholders on new steps to advance the Council\u2019s affordable housing agenda,\u201d adding that the council pursued veto overrides of bills that passed with veto-proof majorities in December, which COPA didn\u2019t.<\/p>\n

Some real estate attorneys aren\u2019t convinced that just a few changes would prevent the bill from legal challenges.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n

Sherwin Belkin, a founding partner of real estate firm Belkin, Burden & Goldman<\/a>, said the entire concept of the bill is problematic.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI think the notion of the state deciding who a property owner can sell its property to raises significant legal and constitutional questions regarding private property and contract rights,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe property owner may feel that [another] party, not the nonprofit, has greater economic stability, will be a better partner to align itself with on sale \u2026 This is restricting that,\u201d Belkin continued. \u201cThis is saying that\u2019s not really for the seller to determine, but in fact, that\u2019s very much part of private property rights and contractual rights \u2014 to be able to determine the stability and feasibility of the party with whom you\u2019re about to enter into a contract.\u201d<\/p>\n

Elena Rodriguez, a staff attorney for the New Economy Project<\/a>, which has advocated for COPA, shot down arguments that the bill would violate private property or contract rights. She emphasized the bill only applies when an owner is voluntarily selling a building, and said landlords are free to turn down a nonprofit\u2019s offer and sell to someone else \u2014 they just have to give the nonprofit the chance to make the first offer.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

If a landlord does receive an offer from another buyer after they reject a nonprofit\u2019s, they must offer the community group a chance to match it, and then sell to the group if it does. If no nonprofits express interest within the initial 25-day window, a property owner is automatically exempt from granting them the right of first refusal. \u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cCourts have repeatedly upheld regulations that govern the process of a voluntary sale, and similar laws in San Francisco and elsewhere have taken effect without being struck down,\u201d Rodriguez said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

She added that COPA would only operate prospectively, meaning it wouldn\u2019t interfere with any property actively under contract if passed, and it doesn\u2019t regulate a building\u2019s sale price. \u00a0<\/p>\n

Market concerns\u00a0<\/p>\n

Critics of COPA have also raised concerns that the law would slow down property sales, thus potentially driving down prices and the pool of would-be buyers.<\/p>\n

That could create an argument that COPA violates the Constitution\u2019s takings clause, which prevents government overreach into private property, because the procedural hurdles installed by the government could hurt property owners\u2019 return on investment. But even some real estate attorneys say that might be a stretch.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Belkin said the constitutional claim is significantly weaker than the property rights path.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n

\u201cThat argument, I think, is a little more difficult, because you have to demonstrate that there has been an economic injury caused by the bill,\u201d Belkin said. \u201cIt would be more speculative at this early time to be able to demonstrate that \u2026but the argument would be that, by so limiting the pool of prospective purchasers, the purchase price will be negatively impacted.\u201d<\/p>\n

He and other attorneys said a potential fix might be to reduce the timeframes for nonprofits to make their offers, but Nurse said that wouldn\u2019t be happening. The windows are already shorter than she initially wanted them to be, and it\u2019s necessary to give nonprofits enough time to properly consider making an offer and to gather the necessary funds.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe real estate industry \u2026 wants unfettered access to any potential property. They don\u2019t want to be subject to any interventions that, personally, we think would help address the housing crisis,\u201d Nurse said. \u201cThis legislation is meant to create a small window of opportunity for our trusted, mission-driven affordable housing providers to take these properties, purchase them, do light repairs and rehabilitation if needed, and provide safe, affordable housing that New Yorkers can live in.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not a guarantee, it\u2019s just an opportunity,\u201d Nurse continued. \u201cIt\u2019s a small window of time, and once that window is closed, the private sector can continue to move forward with their mission, which is to make as much money as possible.\u201d<\/p>\n

COPA is expected to come up for a vote within this legislative session and will need only a simple majority vote to be sent to Mamdani\u2019s desk. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A hotly debated housing bill that would give nonprofits first dibs on property purchases \u2014 vetoed by former…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":139211,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[39],"tags":[30317,41320,81,2710,9,24,63,87,1491,134,136,135,82],"class_list":["post-139210","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-staten-island","tag-copa","tag-council-member-sandy-nurse","tag-eric-adams","tag-law","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-nyc","tag-politics","tag-real-estate","tag-staten-island","tag-staten-island-headlines","tag-staten-island-news","tag-zohran-mamdani"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/139210","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=139210"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/139210\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/139211"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=139210"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=139210"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=139210"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}