Why We Need the Community Opportunity to Purchase Act

Across New York City, roughly half of all tenants live in rent-stabilized housing—including us. For decades, the programs of subsidies and tax credits that created this housing enabled working-class families to live securely in our neighborhoods. But many of these subsidies are now expiring. Without new tools to preserve affordable housing, our city will suffer eviction and displacement spikes as incentives expire and owners look to cash in.

That’s exactly what’s happening to us. We live in subsidized buildings constructed in the 1990’s–John’s building was created through the federal Low Income Housing Tax Credit program; Gaelen and Denise’s under the state’s 421-a tax abatement structure. Both buildings have come to the end of their subsidies, and each landlord is looking to make a sale with the highest return. In the process, tenants have faced pressure to self-evict, and vacant units have been “warehoused”—kept off the market so the landlord can make the building more attractive to high bidders.

And this is happening over and over across the city. It’s one of many reasons why organized tenants across the city are calling for the passage of the Community Opportunity to Purchase Act (Int 902-b) or “COPA”. Supported by a majority of NYC Council Members and over 200 community organizations, COPA would give qualified preservation buyers working with organized tenants the first opportunity to make an offer on certain buildings when an owner decides to sell. It’s a targeted tool focused on buildings in distress or with expiring affordability restrictions—exactly the situations we and so many others are facing.

Some critics have mischaracterized COPA as government interference in “private” transactions, but the reality is simple: our buildings have been supported by public dollars for decades. Taxpayers—and the families who relied on these subsidies—have already invested in them for decades. When they go up for sale, tenants and mission-driven preservation partners can’t compete with corporate speculators. COPA introduces the transparency and timing needed to give communities a fair chance to preserve their homes.

A few years ago, tenants in both of our buildings realized our homes were in jeopardy. As long-standing affordability restrictions neared expiration, landlords began preparing to cash out. At 287 Prospect Avenue, the building was listed for sale, a third-party management company appeared, and repairs went ignored. At 63 Tiffany Place, tenants watched rents threaten to skyrocket, putting seniors and families on fixed incomes at risk of being pushed out of the neighborhoods they helped build.

Facing displacement, we organized. Tenants formed associations, sought legal support, and pushed for transparency from our landlords. At 63 Tiffany Place, tenants identified a mission-driven preservation partner ready to work with them to buy the building, keep homes permanently affordable, and invest in long-neglected repairs. But without a fair process for community-based buyers, the deal couldn’t move forward.

Our neighbors want to stay in our communities; many of us work nearby, send our children to local schools, and have deep roots in the surrounding blocks. Yet the current system leaves tenants and preservation buyers at a severe disadvantage. Apartments were warehoused, cosmetic repairs substituted for real fixes, and negotiations stalled. At both of our buildings, efforts to engage the owners have gone nowhere. Meanwhile, deep-pocketed investors can move quickly, leaving residents like us with few options.

COPA will change that. We have shown the will and the commitment to preserve our homes; what we lack are the tools to make it possible. COPA would give communities those tools and a real path to lasting stability.

We urge the City Council to keep families in their homes and pass COPA.