Speaker numbers apply only to this recording.
The New York City Council Committee on Housing and Buildings, chaired by Council Member Pierina Ana Sanchez, convened on October 22, 2026 at 11:00 AM to vote on Proposed Introduction No. 905-A, the Community Opportunity to Purchase Act (COPA). Sponsored by Council Member Sandy Nurse, the legislation aims to give qualified entities, such as nonprofits and community land trusts, the first opportunity to submit a statement of interest and purchase certain multifamily residential properties before they can be sold to private parties. After remarks from the chair and the sponsor, the committee voted 10-0-1 to approve the item.
No, I have to go outside. I don't get me in trouble. He's he's just probably in this in this pile, I think. Oh, yeah, put them all away. Oh, you got uh Zway. That's Wayne. Yeah, that's it. That's it. No. Good morning, and welcome to today's New York City Council vote for the committee on housing and buildings. Ladies and gentlemen, at this time, we please ask that you silence all electronic devices moving forward. No one is to approach the front day as chair. Maybe begin. Thank you, Sergeants. Good morning. I'm Council Member Pierina Sanchez, Chair of the Committee on Housing and Buildings. Today the committee will be voting on proposed intro nine oh five A, the community opportunity to purchase act, sponsored by Councilmember Sandy Nurse in relation to giving qualified entities a first opportunity to submit a statement of interest. New York City is in a profound housing crisis, and while we rightly talk about our desperate need to build more, we cannot ignore another crisis that is unfolding inside the homes we already have. Our city cannot build our way out of this crisis while allowing the affordable housing that we already have to fall apart. And that's why today's vote is so exciting. Because with COPA, New York City gains a new tool to interrupt those cycles and put buildings on a path toward long-term stability and responsible ownership. Championed by council member Sandy Nurse and heard by this committee several times, COPA recognizes that the moment a building changes hands is a critical opportunity to change its future by giving mission-driven organizations a meaningful chance to acquire the buildings and chart a different non-speculative future for families who live there. 905 would require that if owner, if owners of a select group of multifamily residential buildings decide to sell those properties, they must offer these buildings to select nonprofits called qualified entities before they can complete the sale of those buildings to a private party. COPA would include buildings with between four and 100 units that either have affordability agreements managed by HPD or have a baseline level of physical distress. HPD would manage a list of qualified entities who are experienced operators of residential buildings and owners of covered buildings would be required first to notify these entities before they complete a sale, then to give those entities a period of time to make an offer to purchase the building. If the building owner rejects any offers from a qualified entity, that qualified entity would be given the opportunity to match any offers that the owner later receives from private sellers. This program is inspired by a similar program in San Francisco that has helped prevent the displacement of thousands of tenants. It would help mission-oriented nonprofits compete with the speculative investors to acquire housing and enable them to maintain the city's affordable housing stock. Tens of thousands of regulatory agreements requiring developers to maintain affordable rents in New York expire every year. The vacancy rate for apartments with rents below 1,100 is estimated at just 0.39%. It is below 1% with uh for apartments with rents under 1,600 uh, excuse me, 1,649 dollars. The city doesn't have enough affordable housing to spare, and we must do what we can to keep those affordability agreements alive. Nonprofits have been shown to be more effective at maintaining lower rents, but they can't give legitimate offers to purchase property at the same rate as speculative investors. They rely too heavily on a bundle of financing from many from across many sources. COPA would give these nonprofits the time they need to purchase residential buildings, preventing the displacement of tenants that call those buildings their home, and enabling these nonprofits to maintain New York's affordable housing stock. I want to especially recognize Councilmember Sandy Nurse, who's poured so much labor, political capital, and patience, girl, into getting this legislation across the finish line. And I also want to recognize the tireless advocacy of the COPA coalition led by the New Economy Project nicely, and including so many organizations and tenant leaders, shout out to our Bronx from My Neck of the Woods who have been fighting for this legislation. I'd like to invite Councilmember Nurse now to discuss her bill. Thank you, Chair Santez. Colleagues, today we are going to end the six-year saga of the community opportunity to purchase act here in the council. Three mayors, four introductions, three hearings, a passage, and a veto, a really intense lobbying effort by the real estate industry, all of it comes down to today's vote. We are voting on the most strategic, most operationally sound version of this bill, thanks to the relentless campaign of the COPA coalition and also to the invaluable input of many of my colleagues here. COPA lets trusted housing providers buy certain buildings, work with tenants, fix these units up, and put those same tenants back in those units at permanently for affordable rates.