FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: May 16, 2024
Contact: Will Spisak, will@neweconomynyc.org
Electeds, Groups Rally at City Hall for Enactment of the Community Opportunity to Purchase Act, as Movement for Community-Controlled Housing Surges
Coalition Seeks $2.5 Billion in Capital Funding for Permanently Affordable Housing and $3 Million for CLT Organizing
NEW YORK, NY – On Thursday, more than 50 community, housing, and environmental justice groups and elected officials rallied at City Hall for enactment of the Community Opportunity to Purchase Act (COPA), which would give community land trusts (CLTs) and other nonprofits a first right to bid on multifamily buildings when a landlord sells. COPA – which was reintroduced at Thursday’s City Council stated meeting – is part of the Community Land Act, a slate of bills backed by 150+ groups that would dramatically expand the supply of permanently affordable, community- and tenant-controlled housing.
Groups also urged the City Council and Mayor Adams to commit $2.5 billion in capital funding, over four years, to help CLTs and other nonprofits create and preserve deeply and permanently affordable housing; and to fund the citywide Community Land Trust Initiative at $3 million in the city’s FY25 budget, to expand CLT organizing and technical assistance.
CLTs are community-controlled nonprofit organizations that steward land for the public good. More than 20 CLTs are working to facilitate neighborhood-led development, combat real estate speculation and displacement, and develop or preserve deeply affordable housing.
The push for legislation and funding to support CLTs comes as ink dries on a state housing deal that denies hundreds of thousands of renters basic protections from predatory landlords. It also comes as city rents rise seven times faster than wages, driving the displacement of low-income New Yorkers and New Yorkers of color. Supporters emphasized that to address the root causes of the housing crisis, city policymakers must support strategies to decommodify housing.
COPA, sponsored by Council Member Carlina Rivera and modeled on successful policies implemented in San Francisco and Washington, D.C, has already garnered widespread support. Last year, the bill acquired a near two-thirds majority in the Council, including co-sponsorship by Council Speaker Adrienne Adams and Housing Chair Pierina Sanchez.
The Community Land Act package also includes the Public Land for Public Good Act (Intro 78), sponsored by Council Member Lincoln Restler, which would require the city to prioritize CLTs and other nonprofits in public land dispositions; and Resolution 374, sponsored by NYC Public Advocate Jumaane Williams, which calls on New York State to enact the Tenant Opportunity to Purchase Act. Another Community Land Act proposal would permanently abolish the tax lien sale and require the City work with CLTs to convert distressed properties to permanently affordable housing; Intros 782, 783, and Res. 327, sponsored by Council Member Sandy Nurse, would convert key pieces of this proposal into law.
At the rally, CLT and tenant organizers spoke about campaigns that would be bolstered by COPA. Tenants of landlord Daniel Ohebshalom, who was arrested for failure to correct hazardous conditions in his buildings, are fighting to take control of their buildings. East New York CLT recently worked with tenants at 248 Arlington Avenue to purchase their building from an absentee landlord. And two years ago, tenants at 700 East 134th Street in the Bronx, a neglected multifamily building, worked with UHAB to buy their building. COPA would multiply these successes across the city, advocates said.
QUOTES:
“Across the city, we’re seeing a surge of longtime residents and CLTs fighting to take housing out of the hands of predatory landlords,” said Elise Goldin, CLT Campaign Organizer at New Economy Project, which coordinates the NYC Community Land Initiative. “COPA would bolster this rapidly growing movement and address root causes of housing insecurity. We call on the City Council to pass COPA – and the entire Community Land Act bill package – to expand the supply of deeply-affordable, community-controlled housing New Yorkers desperately need.”
“The Community Land Act is a critical set of bills to remove housing from speculation and expand housing models that give tenants a say in the future of their homes,” said New York City Comptroller Brad Lander. “With the state failing to protect tenants, the City Council and advocates are pushing for much needed tools and investments at the city-level. The New York City Council must pass the Community Land Act now and ensure funds to make these programs succeed today, tomorrow, and for generations.”
“Now is the time to be talking about social housing. As landlords and corporations continue to place profits over people and even their own properties, it is time to move to create alternatives to this private, corporate ownership model,” said Public Advocate Jumaane Williams. “Housing owned by communities of tenants, rather than corporations, is the path forward. While investing to reverse decades of decline in New York’s public housing, the state and city should also be making efforts to acquire, preserve, and develop properties that can be owned and managed through community land trusts, occupied by tenants across the income spectrum. On a city level, we need to move forward to pass COPA, and urge the state to pass TOPA through my resolution – we cannot wait as rents continue to rise and tenants lose their homes.”
“We are facing an unprecedented and persistent affordability crisis in New York City right now – a crisis that demands urgent action,” said Council Member Carlina Rivera. “I am committed to supporting access to safe and affordable housing and we must implement measures to increase supply and maximize housing development. My bill, the Community Opportunity to Purchase Act, gives qualified affordable housing developers and Community Land Trusts a first opportunity to submit a competitive offer to purchase certain residential buildings when offered for sale. As part of the Community Land Act, this legislation looks to expand community ownership housing policies we need during this shortage.”
“Cities like New York are cities of opportunity, and if we don’t provide spaces for people to come and live and stay — and stay for generations — then we’re failing,” said Council Member and Housing and Buildings Committee Chair, Pierina Sanchez. “The market does not deliver homes at the affordability levels that low-income and working-class New Yorkers need, which is why we gather to uplift the role of mission-driven organizations and community land trusts in building and preserving affordable housing. Through a $2 billion investment into HPD’s capital budget through the Homes Now, Homes for Generations campaign, we invest in ensuring our city remains a city of opportunity with the participation of this key sector.”
“We have an affordability crisis plaguing our City,” said Council Member Lincoln Restler. “Far too many city-owned lots have been misused to develop housing that is unaffordable to local residents. As rents continue to rise and more and more New Yorkers are struggling to get by, we need to act now to ensure redevelopment of every public lot maximizes truly affordable housing.”
“As we continue to face a housing and homelessness crisis, we must commit to building and preserving affordable housing for those who need it most,” said Will Depoo, Senior Campaign Organizer at the Association for Neighborhood and Housing Development. “The package of bills in the Community Land Act provides our communities with more tools to fight speculation, develop responsibly, move distressed buildings into the hands of responsible community stewards, and ensure that public resources go where they’re most needed.”
“The Community Land Act is key to determining how the City develops and evolves,” said Arif Ullah, of South Bronx Unite and the Mott Haven-Port Morris Community Land Stewards. “In essence, it’s a reflection of the City’s values. The question is, are our legislators, our Mayor, our Council Speaker equally committed to a just and equitable city that prioritizes the well-being of the vast majority of its residents, or is their allegiance to the real estate industry and private interests? Whether they support and champion the CLA is the answer.”
“It’s outrageous that the city has not met the basic demand that our public assets – city owned land – be used for public good, for permanently affordable housing. We must pass the Public Land for Public Good Act,” said Brianna Soleyn, a board member of the East New York Community Land Trust. “And we must pass COPA. The ENY CLT put in the work to organize residents and donors to directly purchase our first building, which was neglected by its former owner. Through COPA, the city can support acquisitions like these, of over-leveraged rent stabilized housing stock, to ensure that these buildings are kept affordable and under tenant control. These acquisitions are proven to work and directly improve New Yorkers’ lives.”
“This Land Is Ours CLT is working on several new construction projects, and all will be deeply affordable,” said Valerio Orselli, Project Director of This Land Is Ours CLT. “On the East 5th St. NYPD Parking Lot, we plan to develop upwards of one hundred apartments for seniors and disabled people. The site has been designated for low-income housing, and we have secured over 600 signatures in support of our project from our Lower East Side community as well as the overwhelming support of Community Board 3. But the City insists on issuing an RFP open to all developers and refuses to prioritize CLTs. Public Land for the Public Good would allow us to move forward, instead of waiting for an RFP they haven’t even drafted yet. Another major project would greatly benefit if COPA or TOPA were passed, along with a funding stream. We must pass the Community Land Act now.”
“CLTs all over New York City are showing that they have the momentum and the know-how to take land off the speculative market and put people over profit,” said Alexis Foote, Founder and Board Chair of ReAL Edgemere Community Land Trust. “Let’s pass the Community Land Act to give CLTs the tools they need to turn neighbors into owners.”
“Having lived in the same apartment in Hell’s Kitchen for more than forty years and witnessed firsthand the devastating effects the action and inaction of a predatory landlord has had on fellow tenants and neighbors, I believe it is high time for the city to pass the Community Land Act,” said Nicholas Latimer, Tenants’ Association leader at 438/440 W. 45th Street, apartment buildings formerly owned by Daniel Ohebshalom, a NYC ‘worst landlord’ as declared by the NYC Public Advocate’s Office. “The care and maintenance of our homes should be entrusted to the people to whom it matters the most: the residents of our community.”
“Every year, hundreds of thousands of violations of housing law are issued in NYC while millions of renters are severely rent-burdened,” said Mark Natanawan, Tenant Organizer at Housing Conservation Coordinators. “We need to fix up run-down apartment buildings across the city and tackle the affordability crisis by investing in and supporting community-owned, nonprofit-operated housing. Our city needs to pass the Community Land Act as well as funding through Homes Now, Homes for Generations this year!”
“The NWBCCC and Bronx CLT are already beginning to demonstrate the power of community-driven development to provide deeply and permanently affordable housing through our new construction and preservation projects,” said Todd Baker, Community Development Project Manager at Northwest Bronx Community & Clergy Coalition (NWBCCC). “The Community Land Act would provide the policy framework and Homes Now, Homes for Generations would provide the resources necessary to scale projects like these across the Bronx and beyond. This is the kind of transformative approach that our neighbors need and deserve.”
“The importance of passing COPA cannot be overstated,” said Gilbert Butcher, Member of Met Council on Housing and Tenant Leader at 709 W 170th St, another apartment building owned by Ohebshalom, who was recently arrested for negligence and endangerment. “It gives tenants an opportunity to buy the buildings they live in which have been mismanaged by their slumlords. At a time when homelessness is so prevalent in the city, COPA can create a sense of security and peace of mind for tenants.”
“Land is a precious resource and it is unacceptable that publicly owned land is sold to developers for as low as $1 in a city facing a serious housing crisis,” said Annetta Seecharran, Executive Director of Chhaya Community Development Corporation. “The Community Land Act will ensure that it falls in the hands of community centered groups like CLTs, CDCs and nonprofits who have long been fighting against gentrification, foreclosures and homelessness. The time to act is now.”
“TakeRoot is thrilled that the Community Opportunity to Purchase Act will build on NYC’s generations of community development infrastructure to transform market-rate units into permanently affordable housing,” said Paula Z. Segal, Senior Staff Attorney in the TakeRoot Justice Equitable Neighborhoods unit. “It will level the playing field for tenants and the community-based organizations. The Act strikes a balance between tenant power and current owners’ property rights by ensuring that tenants have time to develop partnerships and raise funds to purchase properties at market value.”
“NYC is facing a critical shortage of deeply affordable housing, and we continue to lose affordable units to ongoing rent hikes and landlord warehousing,” said Jenny Dubnau, Co-Chair of the Western Queens CLT. “Gentrification and displacement are hollowing out Black and immigrant communities, and largely unaffordable housing is being built even on publicly owned land, often by for-profit developers. For example, a city-owned site on Hunters Point South in Queens is now being offered to developers, at only 60% affordability—and the proposed AMI levels are still too high. Mission-driven non-profits and CLTs can provide far deeper affordability than for-profit developers: our city leaders must pass the Public Land for Public Good Act to ensure deep, permanent affordability on public land. The Public Land for Public Good Act, part of the CLA, could also help WQCLT obtain a large city-owned manufacturing building on the gentrifying Queens waterfront, offering affordable work and cultural spaces to those who are currently priced out. And the CLA could help us obtain and fund additional sites for deeply affordable housing: we need the Community Land Act to pass!”
“Chinatown has one of the lowest rates of home ownership in all of New York City, and no new affordable units have been built in the last 30 years,” said Justin Yu, Member of the Chinatown Community Land Trust. “This systemic neglect has long-term social and economic ramifications for our neighborhood, with extreme fire hazards being just one of them. These problems are driving our neighborhood’s rapid decline, and it is time for a change. The CLT funding would enable the community to explore practical and sustainable solutions. It’s high time for our voices to be heard, and for the city to take action to uplift and improve our community for generations to come.”
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