Law Gives NYC Community Groups First Chance to Preserve Affordable Housing
Qualified nonprofits and community groups will get the first opportunity to buy certain multifamily buildings before they hit the private market after Mayor Zohran Mamdani signed the Community Opportunity to Purchase Act (COPA) this week.
The law takes effect one year from Tuesday and prevents landlords of primarily rent-stabilized buildings with outstanding housing code violations from listing those properties on the open market until they alert the city’s Department of Housing Preservation and Development, according to the New York Post.
Sponsored by Council Member Sandy Nurse, COPA gives mission-driven affordable housing providers 145 days to make an offer on eligible properties, plus an additional year to exercise a right of first refusal to match another buyer’s offer.
COPA creates a powerful new tool to preserve affordable housing, protect tenants and prevent buildings from falling into a cycle of disrepair and profit-driven neglect, the city said.
“Too many New Yorkers have watched their homes deteriorate while landlords extract profits and tenants are left to fight for the repairs they deserve. That’s not how housing should work. Our homes should be places of stability, not vehicles for speculation. COPA puts power in the hands of the community organizations that have spent years serving our neighborhoods and fighting to keep New Yorkers housed. After six years of organizing, tenants and advocates have won a new tool to protect their homes and keep affordable housing in the hands of those who will care for it,” Mamdani said. “This is what it looks like to build a more affordable city where every New Yorker can live with stability and dignity.”
An Important Tool
Leila Bozorg, Deputy Mayor for Housing and Planning, said COPA is an important tool for the city.
“COPA will be a valuable part of our work to preserve and invest in affordable housing across the five boroughs. This is an important tool to ensure buildings at risk are managed by people with a stake in their long-term success,” Bozorg said. “Congratulations to Council Member (Sandy) Nurse and her colleagues, tenants, and organizers who have fought for years to celebrate this day!”
Council Member Pierina Sanchez, Chair of the Committee on Housing and Buildings, said the legislation can interrupt cycles of deterioration.
“New York City is facing a housing crisis—not only because we lack affordable homes, but because too many of the homes we already have are deteriorating under cycles of speculation, disinvestment, and neglect,” Sanchez said. “The Community Opportunity to Purchase Act gives us a powerful new tool to interrupt those cycles at the point of sale, giving mission-driven nonprofits a fair chance to acquire distressed and affordable buildings and put them on a path toward long-term stability. I am proud to have supported COPA’s evolution as Housing Chair, shepherding it through multiple hearings. I am grateful to Council Member Sandy Nurse for the persistence and work it took to get COPA across the finish line, to the COPA Coalition, led by New Economy Project and NYCLI with tenant organizers across our city, including Our Bronx, who made this victory possible, and to Mayor Mamdani for his support to ensure COPA becomes law.”
The city said that under COPA, the Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD) will maintain a list of “qualified entities,” vetted nonprofits, tenant groups, community land trusts and other mission-driven organizations with demonstrated experience acquiring, preserving, and managing affordable housing.
It said that those organizations must also demonstrate the financial and organizational capacity to purchase and operate eligible properties.
According to a city release, when a covered building is put up for sale, qualified entities will receive an exclusive 145-day window to complete the purchase. If the entity’s offer is rejected and another buyer subsequently makes an offer within the following year, qualified entities will have the right of first refusal to match it.
Community-Based Ownership
The city noted that covered properties include multifamily buildings with four or more units that are in significant disrepair, as well as buildings with affordability restrictions governed by HPD regulatory agreements. The city said that by creating a pathway for responsible community-based ownership, the legislation will ensure that those properties are repaired, maintained, and operated in partnership with tenants rather than left to deteriorate by negligent owners.
This week’s signing marks the culmination of six years of advocacy by Council Member Nurse, tenants, and community organizations, the city said.
Former Mayor Eric Adams vetoed an earlier version of COPA in December 2025. The Mamdani administration then made COPA a priority in its Block by Block housing plan, released in May 2026. The City Council passed the bill in October.
