COPA Falls Short at City Council

After months of debate and warnings from all sides of the industry, the City Council ran out of time this week to save the Community Opportunity to Purchase Act, or COPA, leaving one of the city’s most contentious housing bills effectively sidelined.

On Thursday, the City Council didn’t have the votes to override former Mayor Eric Adams’ veto of COPA, all but ensuring the measure will not become law in its current form. The bill needed 34 votes to survive. It fell short, despite having passed in December with 31 votes and backing from much of the Council’s progressive wing.

Mayor Zohran Mamdani championed COPA during his campaign and has backed similar tenant-purchase legislation in Albany. In theory, a newly elected mayor with political momentum could help flip a handful of Council votes. In practice, the incentives appear more complicated.

Adams vetoed COPA on his final day in office, calling it an unjustified restriction on property sales that would create operational and administrative burdens for the city. Behind the scenes, the city’s Law Department raised constitutional concerns, which several Council members cited this week as a reason for pulling back support.

COPA would have given city-approved nonprofits and joint ventures between nonprofits and for-profit companies the right of first offer, and later the right of first refusal, on some distressed multifamily buildings and properties with expiring affordability requirements. Owners would have been required to notify the city before selling, triggering a months-long process during which approved buyers could line up financing or match competing bids.

Landlord and broker groups argued the structure would slow transactions and scare off would-be buyers, and they weren’t subtle about it. The Small Property Owners of New York (SPONY) called the bill an “unlawful taking of private property,” while REBNY warned it would worsen the city’s housing supply crunch.

Those warnings clearly carried weight. During a Democratic conference this week, it was apparent the votes simply weren’t there to override the veto. By midweek, COPA sponsor Sandy Nurse acknowledged defeat, at least for now.

The optics around Mamdani are just as important as the math. Pushing hard for an override would have meant pressuring a brand-new Council Speaker, Julie Menin, who abstained on the original COPA vote and has shown little appetite to revive it as-is. Also, a failed override attempt would have telegraphed weakness early in the administration.

Thursday’s Council meeting pushed the point home. Lawmakers overrode 17 of Adams’ vetoes, including several housing-related measures that impose new affordability thresholds and homeownership requirements on city-financed projects.

But that doesn’t mean the fight is over.

Menin has said vetoed bills that weren’t revived still have a path forward if legal issues can be addressed. Nurse has already committed to reintroducing COPA this year. Progressive members and tenant advocates remain adamant that some version of the policy is necessary to preserve affordability and prevent displacement.

There was plenty of other news this week. The federal sex trafficking trial for the Alexander brothers began, new filings revealed details of Mark Nussbaum’s alleged Ponzi scheme and Gary Barnett is back in buying mode.

“Cheap hookers”: Email from Tal Alexander revealed in Hamptons accuser’s cross-examination

The Alexander brothers’ federal sex trafficking trial began this week in Lower Manhattan, with prosecutors laying out allegations that Oren, Tal and Alon Alexander ran a yearslong scheme to drug and sexually assault women, charges the brothers deny. The defense argued the brothers’ behavior amounted to a “party boy” lifestyle and not sex trafficking, while also suggesting the accusers were motivated by civil payouts. Check out episode 1 of TRD’s investigative mini-series, “The Alexander Brothers,” for a chronicling of the rise of the luxury brokers and how they ended up in a New York City courtroom facing severe charges.

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Kobi Karp sues Joseph and Jonathan Chetrit over payment tied to $1B Miami River project

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Progressive proposes 15-year exemption on Measure ULA

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Ziel Feldman quietly begins his comeback

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