Nonprofit groups in New York City will soon have first dibs on buying certain distressed properties after Mayor Zohran Mamdani signed the landmark legislation on Tuesday. The Community Opportunity to Purchase Act (COPA) gives qualified, “mission-driven” affordable housing providers 145 days to submit offers on eligible properties, along with a right of first refusal to match another buyer’s offer during the following year. Advocates say the law will help preserve affordable housing, protect tenants, and prevent buildings from falling into disrepair.
Sponsored by Council Member Sandy Nurse, COPA requires the Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD) to maintain a list of “qualified entities”: vetted nonprofits, tenant groups, community land trusts, and other mission-driven organizations with experience acquiring, preserving, and managing affordable housing.
When an eligible property is put up for sale, qualified entities will be notified first. They will then have 20 days to notify both the owner and HPD if they intend to purchase the building, and 70 days to submit a competitive offer. If no qualified entity makes an offer within those 20 days, or if every other offer is rejected at the end of the 70-day period, the property can be listed on the open market.
Covered properties include multifamily buildings with four or more units that are in significant disrepair, as well as buildings with affordability restrictions governed by HPD regulatory agreements. Through COPA, qualified entities will have greater opportunities to repair, maintain, and operate these properties in partnership with tenants, rather than allowing them to deteriorate under negligent ownership.
HPD will now begin implementation of COPA, including developing the qualified entities list and establishing a process to notify eligible organizations when properties are put up for sale.
COPA’s path to enactment has been long and winding. First introduced in 2020, the legislation aimed to preserve existing affordable housing buildings that were being acquired by private equity firms and converted into market-rate housing or put up for sale, as 6sqft previously reported.
The bill ultimately stalled and was reintroduced several times. In December 2025, the City Council approved a similar version, but former Mayor Eric Adams vetoed it, along with 18 other bills, on his last day in office.
For COPA’s latest reintroduction, Nurse said she had to “start all over again” and make several changes to the original bill “to make it workable.”
The revised legislation gained support from Council Speaker Julie Menin and others after the pool of eligible properties was narrowed from 10,000 buildings to between 2,000 and 3,400. The new version applies to properties that meet a higher threshold of housing code violations.
Mamdani has also championed the legislation, which aligns with his administration’s broader efforts to strengthen tenant protections and improve housing affordability. During Tuesday’s press conference, Cea Weaver, director of the Mayor’s Office to Protect Tenants, said the administration is dedicating $2 billion in its budget to affordable housing preservation over the next two years.
However, it remains unclear how much of that $2 billion will be available to finance purchases under COPA, which does not have a dedicated acquisition financing program, according to amNY.
Late last month, the City Council passed COPA for the second time in 2026. On Tuesday, Mamdani celebrated COPA’s passage after six years of advocacy, saying the legislation would give tenants more power to address deteriorating housing conditions.
“Too many New Yorkers have watched their homes deteriorate while landlords extract profits and tenants are left to fight for the repairs they deserve,” Mamdani said. “That’s not how housing should work. Our homes should be places of stability, not vehicles for speculation.”
“COPA puts power in the hands of the community organizations that have spent years serving our neighborhoods and fighting to keep New Yorkers housed,” he added. “After six years of organizing, tenants and advocates have won a new tool to protect their homes and keep affordable housing in the hands of those who will care for it.”
While the administration has seen relative success in preserving affordable housing, it suffered a setback earlier this week when its efforts to help a developer acquire 38 deteriorating East Harlem buildings containing about 850 mostly rent-stabilized apartments headed for a foreclosure auction fell short.
According to Gothamist, Mamdani had supported a bid by the firm Spatial Equity to purchase the properties before lenders put them up for auction. However, tenants and attorneys involved in the deal said negotiations fell through. The financial institutions that control about $250 million in mortgage loans will now move forward with foreclosure sales for each individual building over three auction days.
During Tuesday’s press conference, Mamdani was asked how the city’s support for COPA would differ from its unsuccessful attempt to secure the East Harlem properties. The question noted that while COPA gives qualified buyers the first opportunity to make an offer, it does not guarantee they will ultimately acquire the properties.
In response, Mamdani acknowledged that COPA “in and of itself” would not solve the housing crisis “at its root,” but said it would serve as an important tool to incentivize responsible stewardship of buildings by owners whose goal is to provide stable homes for tenants rather than simply extract revenue.
Deputy Mayor Bozorg added that, in cases like the East Harlem properties, the law would “provide another shot” at intervention by offering a right of first refusal if an initial deal falls through within the first year. She concluded by saying that “the fight’s not over” for East Harlem residents who supported the city’s intervention.
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