Landlord and real estate groups objected to the bill, saying it would expand government involvement in private property sales, while supporters say it will increase the supply of permanently affordable housing managed by tenants or nonprofits.<\/p>\n
If signed into law by Mayor Adams by the end of the year, it will come into effect in 2027.\n<\/p>\n
\u201cToday\u2019s passage of the Community Opportunity to Purchase Act is a transformative victory for housing justice \u2014 won through years of organizing by community land trusts, tenants, and groups across the five boroughs,\u201d said Deyanira Del Rio, executive director of New Economy Project<\/a> in a statement.<\/p>\n While official tallies are not available yet, the bill did not pass with veto-proof majority, meaning that Adams could veto the bill, but supporters expect that council members will override the veto if so, said Will Spisak, Senior Policy Strategist at New Economy Project.<\/p>\n Several organizations that aim to use COPA are based in the Bronx, which suffers the most out of all boroughs from the city\u2019s affordable housing crisis. Eight of the Bronx\u2019s 12 community districts are in the highest risk category and facing the greatest threats to affordable housing, according to the latest Housing Risk Chart<\/a> from the Association for Neighborhood and Housing Development.<\/p>\n Affordable housing organizations have managed apartment complexes for decades, but they often struggle to compete with real-estate investors who can offer cash for properties.\n<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ve had too many missed opportunities,\u201d said Edward Garcia, who directs organizing work at the Northwest Bronx Community and Clergy Coalition (NWBCCC), a longstanding community organizing nonprofit which won partial ownership of the Kingsbridge Armory in an unprecedented deal<\/a> earlier this year.<\/p>\n He said that the bill would allow them to finally take care of buildings that landlords walk away from after having \u201cneglected them for years.\u201d Garcia said he\u2019s seen tenants come back to NWBCCC, decades after they helped the tenants organize because a new owner \u2013or even the same one\u2013 will engage in the same behavior that they successfully fought against.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ve seen over time that buildings in our community continue to be used as a business without the intent of providing safe and affordable housing,\u201d he said.\n<\/p>\n Modeled on laws passed in Chicago, San Francisco, and other cities<\/a>, COPA gives organizations certified by New York City\u2019s Housing Preservation and Development Office (HPD) several weeks to submit a first offer before it hits the open market \u2014it also gives them the right to match offers made by other bidders within 15 days afterwards.<\/p>\n The legislation originally proposed longer windows and would have required all buildings with three or more apartments for sale to be offered first to nonprofit groups only.\n<\/p>\n After pushback from landlords and the HPD, the legislation was amended<\/a> so that it only applies to buildings with at least four units that have significant physical or financial problems. It\u00a0 also allows for-profit buyers to team up with nonprofit groups to make bids.<\/p>\n Community Land Trusts as Organizing Infrastructure<\/p>\n Community Land Trusts<\/a>, or CLTs, are nonprofit, community-based developments of individually-owned buildings on land whose usage is determined by the community.<\/p>\n Pioneered by Black farmers in the South who had lost their homes and jobs after registering to vote, CLTs have been used for urban agriculture and gardens, low-income housing, limited-equity homeownership, and community centers.<\/p>\n They have become part of the strategy for NYC nonprofits looking to tackle the city\u2019s affordability crisis, and there are now 19 in the city, 3 of which are in the Bronx<\/a>.<\/p>\n Today\u2019s legislative victory follows a five-year campaign led by the NYC Community Land Initiative (NYCCLI), a citywide coalition of CLTs coordinated by New Economy Project, said the New Economy Project in a statement after the vote.<\/p>\n NWBCCC incorporated the Bronx CLT<\/a> in 2020, and has three projects in the pipeline to provide affordable housing to Bronxites in perpetuity: Two co-op conversions and a construction project.<\/p>\n \u201cMarginalized communities like mine have been denied access to owning anything, or even having control,\u201d said Julie Colon, the lead housing organizer at NWBCCC, at a rally in front of City Hall. \u201cTenants are ready to be stewards of their homes.\u201d<\/p>\n Colon, who grew up in Morrisania, in the 1990s and early 2000s, said she saw the impact of urban neglect, burnt building, and redlining firsthand.\n<\/p>\n \u201cAs a tenant and an organizer, I\u2019ve seen the horrible conditions in the Bronx and not just in the Bronx but around NYC,\u201d she said.\n<\/p>\n Recent Wins in Community Ownership<\/p>\n The new legislation comes after a long list of community-oriented land purchases by the Bronx in recent years.\n<\/p>\n On Tuesday, NYC Council approved a 99-Year lease of a former recovery center<\/a> to South Bronx Unite\u2019s CLT, the Mott Haven-Port Morris Community Land Stewards, which was founded in 2015 to acquire land for public use and to hold it in perpetuity.<\/p>\n South Bronx Unite, a nonprofit that brings together Mott Haven and Port Morris residents and organizations to advocate for issues affecting their community, aims to start converting the building into a center for health, education and the arts in 2026.<\/p>\n South Bronx Unite said in a statement that the purchase was the culmination of nearly a decade of dedicated organizing, advocacy and community-led envisioning. They say it marks a significant step forward for community ownership in NYC\u00a0 as the city\u2019s first non-residential building developed under a CLT framework.<\/p>\n In 2022, Port Morris residents won a 3 year long fight to convert their 21-unit building into a co-op with the help of Urban Homesteading Assistance Board (UHAB), a nonprofit that specializes in supporting resident-controlled housing.<\/p>\n After years of legal fights with tenants in an attempt to end the rent-stabilized status of their building, the landlord said in a statement to amNY<\/a> that the tenants\u2019 organizing \u201cwore him down\u201d and drove him to put the building on the market in 2020, after which UHAB was able to secure a loan from private family foundation to cover the acquisition of the building.<\/p>\n
\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/12_16-Palacio-del-Sol-an-apartment-building-financed-through-the-New-York-State-Division-of-Housing-.jpeg\")
Palacio del Sol, an apartment building financed through the New York State Division of Housing and Community Renewal\u2019s Homes for Working Families program and by the New York City Housing Development Corporation. Photo by Siddhartha Harmalkar\n<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/12_16-Melanie-Reyes-standing-in-front-of-Nos-Quedamos-Palacio-Del-Sol-Building-in-Melrose.jpg\")
Melanie Reyes standing in front of Nos Quedamos\u2019 Palacio Del Sol Building in Melrose. Photo by Siddhartha Harmalkar<\/p>\n