The revised law would cover about 2,100 buildings and give qualified nonprofits a first shot when owners decide to sell.
New York City is poised to give nonprofit housing groups a new advantage when some of the city’s most troubled apartment buildings go up for sale.
The City Council’s Housing and Buildings Committee is scheduled to vote Thursday on the Community Opportunity to Purchase Act, or COPA, followed by a full Council meeting later that day. The latest version has 33 sponsors—enough to make passage widely expected.
Realtor.com® previously reported on the proposal as lawmakers revived COPA after an earlier version stalled. Since then, lawmakers have narrowed which buildings would be affected and shortened parts of the purchasing process.
Council Member Sandy Nurse, the bill’s lead sponsor, said the revised legislation followed “dozens of conversations with stakeholders who are both for and against this Bill.”
“The Community Opportunity to Purchase Act will make our city more affordable for working class New Yorkers who are being squeezed by the housing affordability crisis,” Nurse said after a September hearing. “COPA is just one tool to preserve our existing affordable housing stock and help stop the brutal cycle of displacement in our neighborhoods.”
A narrower bill still a 'disaster'
Mayor Zohran Mamdani has championed the proposal, and his administration has described it as “an extra layer of protection” for tenants vulnerable to displacement or deteriorating conditions.
“Tenants and community organizations across New York have spent years watching their neighborhoods be priced out from under them while speculators reap the rewards,” Mamdani said in a statement when the revised legislation was introduced in May.
Mamdani’s “Block by Block” housing plan includes COPA as one tool for preserving affordable housing and protecting tenants in distressed buildings. (NYC Mayor's Office ) But the revised bill reaches only a small slice of the city’s apartment stock—only applying to buildings with four or more units that meet specific measures of distress, foreclosure or repair actions, and those with persistent hazardous violations. Owner-occupied buildings with five or fewer units are exempt.
In September, HPD estimated that roughly 2,100 properties would currently qualify, and roughly 300 buildings sold last year would have met the criteria.
When one of those properties goes up for sale, the owner would have to notify HPD and qualified nonprofit buyers. Those groups would get 20 days to express interest and 70 days to make an initial offer.
The owner could reject it. But if the property were later sold to someone else, a qualified nonprofit could have an opportunity to match that buyer’s price and terms.
Supporters say the extra time could solve a basic problem: Community groups often learn a building is available only after a conventional buyer has already moved faster.
Jenny Dubnau, board co-chair of the Western Queens Community Land Trust, said tenants have approached the organization for help buying their buildings “only to have it sold out from under us in the open market before we could make an offer.”
But property owners argue the same delay could have the opposite effect.
“Any version of COPA is a disaster for affordable housing, renters, and owners,” Small Property Owners of New York (SPONY) board president Ann Korchak said in a statement.
Korchak argues the process could discourage private buyers prepared to quickly acquire and rehabilitate troubled buildings.
“This would alienate and discourage conventional purchasers who have the financial wherewithal to immediately purchase and rehabilitate a failing property,” she said. “It also gives an unfair advantage to the city and nonprofits, which would be free to make purchase offers without the burdensome restrictions faced by conventional buyers.”
A first shot still doesn’t guarantee a sale
Experience elsewhere suggests giving mission-driven buyers more time can preserve housing—but only when they can also find the money to close.
Washington, DC’s Tenant Opportunity to Purchase Act (TOPA) gives purchase rights to tenants rather than nonprofits, making it different from New York’s proposal. Still, a 2026 Urban Institute analysis found that TOPA helped create or preserve 16,224 affordable units between 2006 and 2020. The program was also associated with significant renovations or repairs to 12% of the District’s housing stock.
The researchers also emphasized a limitation that could become central in New York: purchase rights work alongside financing and technical assistance, rather than replacing them.
San Francisco offers a smaller example. City financing records show nonprofits have used its COPA law to acquire individual multifamily properties and lock in affordability for decades. One eight-unit building purchased through COPA in 2022, for example, received city financing and was subsequently restricted as affordable housing for at least 75 years.
That sets up the next test for New York. Passage would give nonprofit buyers more time and legal leverage when eligible buildings come up for sale—but whether they can turn that opportunity into thousands of preserved apartments will depend on what happens after they get to the front of the line.