Contact: Will Spisak, will@neweconomyproject.org
NEW YORK, NY — On Thursday, tenants and housing groups gathered outside City Hall to urge Speaker Julie Menin and the New York City Council to pass the Community Opportunity to Purchase Act (COPA). Advocates transformed the plaza into a beach-themed “COPA Cabana,” serving drinks, playing music, and sharing information about how COPA would help preserve affordable housing, prevent displacement, and strengthen community ownership.
The City Council is scheduled to hold a hearing on COPA on September 9. The bill would give qualified mission-driven housing developers working with organized tenants an opportunity to purchase certain residential buildings when their owners decide to sell—creating a pathway to preserve affordable housing, keep homes in community hands, and expand opportunities for homeownership in working-class communities, particularly Black and Brown communities that have been systematically shut out of homeownership for generations.
“Predatory real estate speculators have had free rein to swoop in and snatch up New Yorkers’ homes and neighborhoods for too long. COPA would enable tenants and communities to keep those homes affordable and in community hands,” said Will Spisak of New Economy Project, which coordinates the New York City Community Land Initiative (NYCCLI), the host of the event. “COPA gives communities a real opportunity to preserve affordable housing, keep families in their homes, and build a city where New Yorkers—not speculation and profit—determine the future of their neighborhoods. Speaker Menin and the City Council should pass COPA now.”
COPA is supported by Mayor Mamdani and was featured prominently in his recent housing plan. Advocates say the legislation is especially urgent as real estate speculation continues to drive displacement and instability in working-class communities, particularly Black and Brown communities that have borne the brunt of New York City’s affordability crisis.
At Thursday’s action, New Yorkers chanted “Pass COPA Now!” and handed out (non-alcoholic) “COPA Coladas” to passersby. Tenants and housing advocates called on the Council to act before more affordable homes are lost to speculation and more working-class New Yorkers and communities of color are pushed out of the neighborhoods they helped build.
Advocates pledged to carry the campaign’s message into the September 9 hearing: Keep working-class New Yorkers in NYC. They will urge Council Members to listen to tenants and communities and swiftly pass COPA.
