After a multi-year campaign led by a coalition of community organizations of which Village Preservation was a part, the Community Opportunity to Purchase Act (COPA) has finally been approved by the City Council! Given Mayor Mamdani’s stated support for the bill, we expect it to be signed. At the end of his term, Mayor Adams vetoed the bill, and though the City Council at the time had the votes to override the veto, they did not.

This is an important step toward helping to preserve our older building stock and the affordability of our housing. COPA provides nonprofit groups a chance to buy distressed apartment buildings before they hit the open market, helping to ensure they and their affordable housing are preserved rather than speculatively bought and destroyed. It’s estimated the bill will initially apply to about 2,100 buildings in the city; versions of the bill in other cities have had great success at maintaining older housing stock and affordability. 

This is an important victory years in the making, and another example of how preservation and affordability can go hand in hand.