Run by the city\u2019s Department of Finance and the Department of Housing Preservation and Development, the program turns run-down properties over to nonprofit entities, which work to physically improve and financially stabilize them as affordable housing.\u00a0<\/p>\n
But the program ensnared many homeowners in majority Black and Brown neighborhoods, taking away their homes and key sources of generational wealth \u2014 leading to its multi-year pause.<\/p>\n
Councilmember Pierina Sanchez (D-The Bronx) wants to take a crack at reforming the program, with an aim of narrowing in on \u201cthe worst of the worst\u201d offenders. During a City Council committee hearing Monday, she said the revamped effort would target delinquent owners of dilapidated buildings who owe years\u2019 worth of taxes and fees.<\/p>\n
Sanchez proposed legislation<\/a> \u2014 known as the \u201cStability, Accountability, Fair Enforcement for Residents\u201d or SAFER Act \u2014 that would change the distressed properties that could be included in the program. It would also give more notice to property owners and tenants, require repairs to be made to exit the program and allow owners opportunities to avoid the transfer in some cases.<\/p>\n One provision of the current program allowed that if one property on a block qualified for Third Party Transfer, all properties on that block could be subject to foreclosure. Sanchez\u2019s bill seeks to get rid of what she described as a \u201cdisastrous\u201d provision..<\/p>\n The bill has 32 council sponsors, just two shy of a veto-proof majority \u2014 though Council Speaker Julie Menin is not one of those sponsors and has not taken a position on the bill, a spokesperson said.<\/p>\n HPD officials on Monday indicated they largely support the overhaul of the Third Party Transfer program.\u00a0<\/p>\n Less than 2% of the city\u2019s housing stock have both extensive tax delinquency and serious housing violations, and only a small number of properties would be eligible for Third Party Transfer, according to city officials.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Third Party Transfer program is designed to focus on a narrow subset of these severely distressed properties where other enforcement, outreach or preservation tools have not resolved the underlying instability and where residents need housing stabilization,\u201d said Rosa Kelly, HPD chief of staff.<\/p>\n \u201cBy reforming TPT, the city can ensure that this powerful program focuses on properties with the most delinquent debt and recent violations, so that the buildings can be stabilized and improve housing quality for residents,\u201d she continued.<\/p>\n Several real estate and housing advocacy groups back the effort to remake Third Party Transfer, including the Real Estate Board of New York, Open New York, Center for New York City Neighborhoods and Community Service Society.<\/p>\n Long Road to Reform<\/p>\n Sanchez, chair of the council committee on housing and buildings, has made transforming the Third Party Transfer program a priority in the new year, she told THE CITY in an interview and in remarks last week at a New York State Association for Affordable Housing event.<\/p>\n The revamped program as outlined in her bill would involve \u201cpretty much throwing away everything about how we used to do Third Party Transfers as the city of New York,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n The city suspended Third Party Transfer<\/a> in 2019, after many Black and Brown homeowners, landlords and co-op shareholders complained the program unfairly stripped them<\/a> of property rights when they owed only a small amount of property taxes. The city put together a task force to figure out how to modernize<\/a> the program, but reforms never advanced.<\/p>\n Sanchez pointed to a building in her district as the \u201cposter child\u201d that would make a great candidate for a new version of Third Party Transfer: 2201-2205 Davidson Ave. in The Bronx\u2019s University Heights neighborhood.\u00a0<\/p>\n The landlord owed tens of millions of dollars in unpaid taxes to the city and racked up hundreds of housing violations, records showed. For years, tenants dealt with persistent leaks, pests, elevator outages and other poor conditions, and begged the city to foreclose<\/a> on the buildings and turn them over to nonprofit or cooperative ownership.<\/p>\n![\"Councilmember](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/030926_third_party_transfer_rally-3.jpg\")
Attendees of the City Hall rally for reforms to the Third Party Transfer program hold signs, March 9, 2026. Credit: Ben Fractenberg\/THE CITY<\/p>\n