The New York City Council has approved a revised version of the Community Opportunity for Purchase Act, or COPA, a measure that would require certain property owners to give nonprofit groups and community land trusts an exclusive window to pursue distressed buildings before those properties can be sold to other buyers.
The legislation now heads to Mayor Zohran Mamdani for his signature.
Under the measure, some landlords would be required [1] to make qualifying properties available to community land trusts and nonprofit organizations for 90 days before completing a sale with another buyer. The policy is designed to give those groups the first opportunity to purchase buildings that fall under the law.
The latest version is narrower than an earlier proposal that would have applied to a much larger number of properties across the city.
After years of hard work and advocacy, the Community Opportunity to Purchase Act (COPA) has passed the City Council!
Certain nonprofits and community land trusts will soon have the first opportunity to purchase at-risk apartment buildings when the landlord decides to sell. https://t.co/BSADDS93RF
— Communities Resist (@nycCoRe) October 22, 2026 [2]
The previous COPA proposal would have covered roughly 10,000 buildings. That measure was vetoed by former Mayor Eric Adams shortly before leaving office.
The new version is expected to apply to approximately 2,100 buildings in New York City, most of which are managed by the city’s Housing Preservation Department.
Brooklyn Councilmember Sandy Nurse introduced the bill and defended the revised legislation after questions were raised over potential legal challenges.
Nurse said the prior measure was already defensible but acknowledged that changes were made after additional review by government agencies.
“It was more that there was a number of different points that could be sued over, so it wasn’t that there was anything unconstitutional; it was just that they wanted an opportunity to re-strengthen now that they’ve had a third review of it,” she said.
The legislation is expected to slow the sale process for properties covered by the measure because owners would be required to wait through the 90-day nonprofit and community land trust window before moving ahead with other buyers.
Supporters of the policy argue that it could give nonprofit housing groups a better chance to preserve affordable properties and keep buildings in community-oriented ownership.
Opponents say the measure would interfere with private property sales, reduce property values and make it more difficult for owners to sell buildings at market value.
Ann Korchak, board president of the Small Property Owners of New York, sharply criticized the legislation and warned that it would create financial problems for smaller landlords.
“COPA, in any form, is a destructive housing policy for renters, owners, and affordable housing. COPA will devalue buildings, forcing small, often immigrant and multigenerational, owners to sell their buildings for pennies on the dollar,” she said.
Korchak also argued that giving nonprofits the right of first refusal could prevent other buyers from stepping in quickly to repair troubled properties.
“Giving the right-of-first-refusal to nonprofits shuts out conventional buyers who have the financial wherewithal to immediately improve and rehabilitate a failing building,” she added.
The legislation comes as New York City continues debating how aggressively the government should intervene in housing transactions and property ownership.
Mamdani has previously supported the COPA concept. In an earlier policy proposal, he called on the city to “pass COPA to give CLTs [Community land trusts] and non-profits the right of first refusal when landlords sell.”
If Mamdani signs the legislation, the law would give those organizations a formal advantage in the purchase process for the roughly 2,100 buildings covered by the revised measure.
The bill’s supporters see that as a way to shift distressed housing into nonprofit or community-controlled ownership.
NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani wants to “transfer ownership” of private property from landlords to “the community.”
That’s not a housing policy.
That’s Marxism.
-The Soviet Union tried it.
-Cuba tried it.
-Venezuela tried it.Every country that’s tried it ended up with empty shelves, collapsed economies, and citizens fleeing for their lives.
This is not a new idea.
It’s a very old, very dangerous one.
New York deserves better. America is watching.
— Benny Johnson (@bennyjohnson) May 26, 2026 [3]
Critics see it as a government-imposed restriction on property owners that could discourage investment and reduce the number of conventional buyers willing to pursue struggling buildings.
The revised version represents a significant reduction in scope compared with the earlier proposal, which would have covered approximately five times as many properties.
Even with that narrower reach, the measure is expected to remain controversial because it would still alter the normal sales process for thousands of New York City buildings.
With the City Council having approved the bill, the next step belongs to Mamdani, whose previous support for COPA suggests the proposal is positioned for a more favorable reception than it received under Adams.