The New York City Council approved a sweeping housing measure Thursday that will give community land trusts the first opportunity to purchase certain properties before they are listed on the open market.

The legislation, known as the Community Opportunity to Purchase Act, or COPA, passed with 33 votes. Supporters say the bill is designed to preserve affordable housing and prevent displacement by allowing nonprofit community land trusts — or CLTs — to intervene when buildings come up for sale.

Under the bill, owners of buildings with more than four units, or more than six units if the owner lives on-site, must notify qualified CLTs before selling.

Those organizations would then have up to 180 days to make an offer and secure financing before the property can be sold on the private market.

The Council added a late amendment exempting three‑family homes, a move intended to address concerns from owners of Brooklyn brownstones and other small properties.

Still, many homeowners remain opposed.

“It would drastically increase the time to market and depress the price for a property,” said Jason Mondesir Caeser, a Brooklyn homeowner who argued that the bill places an unfair burden on families looking to sell long‑held homes. “These homes here have been in this community, family‑owned for generations. The restrictions from COPA — they are not something folks can absorb.”

In a statement to News 12, Small Property Owners of NY (SPONY) said that "COPA will make New York City an affordable housing wasteland and trigger the extinction of small owners. This government-engineered, socialist scheme sanctions politically-connected, nonprofit housing slumlords and predatory developers to snatch private property at depressed values from hard-working small owners."

Supporters counter that COPA builds on existing models that have already helped stabilize housing in vulnerable neighborhoods. The East New York community land trust purchased a distressed building from a troubled landlord in 2024. Tenants now own the property as a co‑op. They want that process to be easier to accomplish for more buildings.

“A lot of times a landlord won’t even entertain or consider a community land trust,” said Hannah Anousheh, director of the East New York Community Land Trust. “This requires that we are taken seriously.”

She says she supports COPA applying to homes with as few as four units, as she says those are some of the worst offenders her organization sees.

"Working in Cypress Hills, in Brownsville, in East New York, those small homes are often where these landlords are totally unaccountable, and tenants don't even see community ownership as an option," she said.

Opponents like Caesar argue the bill should focus on large, at‑risk buildings — not smaller private homes. He pointed to the Bed‑Stuy Mansion Community Center, a property advocates have sought to preserve, as the type of site he believes COPA should prioritize.

“This is a perfect example for COPA to be applied to save a building in distress, not my private dwelling by delaying a sale,” he said.

But some opponents of the bill, like local district leader Renee Collymore, are claiming a small victory tonight, as the bill did not pass with a veto-proof majority.

The measure now heads to Mayor Eric Adams’ desk for consideration.