The city’s left‑leaning council majority is pushing a controversial plan that many see as a step toward a “communist dystopia.” The legislation—known as the “Community Opportunity for Purchase Act” (COPA) and sponsored by Brooklyn Councilwoman Sandy Nurse—would force anyone selling a residential building with three or more units to offer the property first to community land trusts and other nonprofit groups that create affordable housing before opening it up to the private market. If the nonprofit makes a competing offer, the seller must match it. Owners who refuse could face civil fines of up to $30,000.
COPA was introduced in May 2024 and has gained momentum after Democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani won the June primary and secured the November general election. By Friday, 32 of the council’s 51 members had signed on as sponsors—more than the 26 votes needed to pass the bill and just short of the 34 required to override a mayoral veto.
Council Minority Leader Joann Ariola (R‑Queens) slammed the move as “another attack on private real‑estate ownership in this city.” She warned that the city is “sliding headfirst into a communist dystopia where the government and its apparatchik developers own all the property and the rest of us get forced into perpetual rentorship, and this legislation is helping to get us there even quicker.”
Nurse told the Post that she has “high hopes” the bill will reach a floor vote before the legislative session ends, citing increasing rent prices and the growing unavailability of homeownership as driving forces. She added that “COPA is another tool to grow affordable housing and keep families here.”
The bill would impose new bureaucratic hurdles on already stressed property owners. It mimics programs already in place in other progressive cities like Washington, D.C., and San Francisco, requiring owners to notify the NYC Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD) and a list of “qualified” nonprofits before putting a building on the open market. Interested nonprofits would have 60 days to notify the owner and HPD of their intent to purchase, followed by 120 days to make a “competitive” offer. If no nonprofit expresses interest or if its offer is rejected, the owner can sell the property on the open market. Violations of the law could result in a civil fine of up to $30,000.
Nurse’s office recently sent an email to other council staff announcing an “amended version” of the bill, which will be discussed in a web briefing next Wednesday. A Nurse spokesperson declined to elaborate on the planned changes.
Ann Korchak, board president of the Small Property Owners of New York, warned that the current version of the bill would lead to a “slow and painful demise” for small building owners while benefiting politically connected nonprofits. She described it as “government‑engineered interference in free‑market transactions that eliminates negotiations, private sales, and potential buyers in favor of approved non‑profits,” citing the group’s representation of more than 5,700 landlords.
The New York State Association of Realtors, representing over 61,000 agents, criticized the bill as “an unwarranted government intrusion into private real estate transactions that would likely establish unreasonable delays in the sale of residential buildings, negatively impacting buyers, sellers, real estate professionals, and state and city coffers.” The association argued that forcing a building to be offered to nonprofits would diminish owners’ potential income, reduce sales prices, and cut off the city’s more than $1 billion in real‑property transfer tax revenue.
The mayor’s office said it is reviewing the legislation, while a city council spokesperson noted that the bill is “going through the legislative process” but declined to comment on whether Speaker Adrienne Adams will schedule a vote.
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