Council Revives Scaled-Back COPA Bill After Adams Veto

A year after former Mayor Eric Adams vetoed it on his way out of office, the City Council on Thursday passed a pared-down version of the Community Opportunity to Purchase Act, a measure that would give certified nonprofits the first chance to buy certain apartment buildings when owners decide to sell. The vote, held Oct. 22, came after lawmakers narrowed the bill’s potential reach by nearly 80 percent, according to amNewYork.

The Council first passed COPA in December by a 31-10 vote, only for Adams to veto it shortly before leaving City Hall. Council Member Sandy Nurse, the bill’s lead sponsor, said it had been through the fire, pointing to repeated introductions, the veto and what she described as an intense lobbying campaign by real estate interests. She argued that preserving existing affordable apartments is among the fastest ways to confront the housing crisis, since new construction can take years. “Buying and preserving some of the housing we already have is the most immediate way to stop displacement, and that’s what COPA does,” she said, per amNewYork.

The new legislation generally targets residential buildings with at least four apartments that meet specific criteria. Those include serious unresolved housing violations, extended participation in the city’s Alternative Enforcement Program, certain tenant harassment findings, or qualifying affordability agreements overseen by the Department of Housing Preservation and Development. Buildings covered only by 421-a tax incentive restrictions are excluded, as are owner-occupied properties with five or fewer apartments. Eligibility based on HPD-managed affordability agreements is limited to buildings with no more than 100 apartments.

Under the process, a certified nonprofit would have 20 days to express interest once an owner decides to sell, followed by a 70-day window to submit an offer. Both periods are shorter than the 25 and 80 days in the vetoed bill. If no nonprofit steps forward within the first 20 days, the owner may proceed with the sale without further obligations under that portion of the law.

Owners also gain flexibility. Unlike in the earlier version, landlords could list their buildings, obtain appraisals and negotiate with other prospective buyers while nonprofits weigh an offer, though limits on completing a sale would remain. If a landlord rejects a nonprofit’s offer, the nonprofit could later match another buyer’s offer under the right-of-first-refusal provisions. The bill includes a financial hardship exemption and penalties of up to 15 percent of the sale price for owners who bypass required notifications. It would take effect one year after becoming law, and it does not force owners to sell.

The revisions followed a dispute over legal advice. Nurse said the Law Department had initially considered the December bill legally defensible but later raised additional concerns as lawmakers weighed an override. Speaker Julie Menin criticized the timing of those warnings during a confirmation hearing for Corporation Counsel Steve Banks earlier this year. On Thursday, Menin said the legal memo reached her desk shortly after she became speaker and helped prompt the changes. “We were able to address some of the legal issues that the law department had raised,” she said. Nurse clarified that the earlier bill had not been deemed unconstitutional, saying the Law Department had identified potential grounds for lawsuits, and that many changes were meant to help HPD administer the program.

Landlord groups remained critical. Kenny Burgos, CEO of the New York Apartment Association, said the Council had been responsive to stakeholders but was “still missing the forest for the trees,” arguing that rising operating costs and insufficient revenue strain both private and nonprofit housing providers. Ann Korchak, board president of Small Property Owners of New York, warned that COPA would devalue buildings and push small, often immigrant and multigenerational owners to sell for pennies on the dollar.