Opinion: To keep our neighborhoods affordable, we need the Community Opportunity to Purchase Act

From the North Bronx to Southeast Queens, our communities are confronting a deepening housing crisis marked by rising costs, displacement and speculation. As New York City Council members representing districts that have long been anchors of affordability for homeowners and tenants, we are co-sponsoring the Community Opportunity to Purchase Act (COPA) to tackle these challenges head on.

COPA, introduced by our colleague Council Member Sandy Nurse, gives mission-driven nonprofits like community land trusts and community development corporations a first chance to buy multifamily buildings when landlords sell. Modeled on successful laws in Washington, D.C. and San Francisco, COPA would curb speculation and give local nonprofits a powerful new tool to expand permanently affordable, community-controlled housing.

Across our districts – and throughout the city – tens of thousands of New Yorkers live in buildings targeted by speculators looking to jack up rents, evict tenants and flip homes for a quick profit. But these same buildings could instead be preserved as stable, affordable housing – something New York desperately needs. According to the New Economy Project, about 5,000 buildings with 42,000 units of housing in our districts alone would be eligible under COPA.

With COPA, nonprofit developers could step in to keep these homes affordable and protect tenants from devastating rent hikes. COPA would also create new opportunities for homeownership by enabling nonprofit buyers, including community land trusts, to convert buildings to shared-equity co-ops and other models that keep housing affordable long-term. That’s how we start to close the racial homeownership gap, which is wider in New York City than elsewhere across the nation.

The housing crisis is an existential threat to the communities we represent, where Black homeownership has been a cornerstone of stability for generations. In the past two decades, more than 200,000 Black New Yorkers have left the city, pushed out by skyrocketing housing costs and disinvestment. COPA is one essential tool to help stop this exodus.

COPA will also combat toxic property flipping. When predatory speculators snatch up homes from struggling New Yorkers, it leaves families displaced and properties sitting vacant until they can be flipped for enormous profits. Our districts have some of the highest flipping rates in the city, putting our constituents at risk of displacement and making it harder for families to stay rooted in the neighborhoods they’ve built. COPA will help prevent these homes from falling into the clutches of speculators by giving community-based nonprofits the first chance to purchase them and keep them affordable for generations to come.

Speculators don’t just flip homes – they often use unethical and fraudulent tactics like deed theft, swindling property from rightful heirs. We are fighting this through laws that increase resources for homeowners and hold bad actors accountable. Council Member Selvena Brooks-Powers sponsored the creation of the Office of Homeowner Advocacy, Council Member Kevin Riley led legislation to expand resources for estate planning and Council Member Nantasha Williams passed a bill increasing transparency to alert homeowners about scams. COPA builds on these vital measures by creating a powerful safeguard against speculation, ensuring that housing serves communities, not just investors.

For example, take one house in Rosedale, Queens. A family bought a 3-unit building on Brookville Blvd. in the 1990s for just over $250,000. Years later, an investor swooped in and purchased it for $150,000 – far below its value. Within a year, that investor flipped the house for over $1 million, walking away with a massive payday and taking a once-affordable home off the market for our working-class constituents. If COPA had been in place, a community land trust could have purchased the land, created affordable homes for local families and ensured the property remains affordable in perpetuity.

Nonprofits already deliver the deepest affordability in New York. According to a recent report, when nonprofits build on city-owned land, 38% of the units are affordable to the lowest-income New Yorkers, compared to just 21% for for-profit developers. And while for-profits often price “affordable” units far above what local families can pay, nonprofits keep homes truly within reach. Let’s give them more opportunities to build on this success and create permanently affordable housing across the city.

Passing COPA will show we are willing to invest in the people and neighborhoods that have kept New York strong. By keeping families in their homes and creating real opportunities to build community wealth, we can keep families rooted here and ensure New York’s promise endures. COPA is a vital tool to preserve affordability, stop displacement, and build the city we deserve. 

Let’s pass COPA this year –and put communities, not speculators, in control.