City Council Doesn’t Have Votes to Overturn COPA

The City Council doesn’t have the votes to overturn former Mayor Eric Adams’ veto of the Community Opportunity to Purchase Act, or COPA.

Democratic Council members met on Monday to discuss the bill, which Adams vetoed on his final day in office. At the time, the mayor indicated that the bill “unjustifiably” restricted the pool of potential buyers of certain buildings and created “significant operational and administrative challenges” for city agencies.

During a Democratic conference on Monday, it became clear that not enough members favor overriding the veto. A member who attended the conference told The Real Deal that constitutional issues raised by the city’s Law Department caused some supporters to drop off.

The Council needs a supermajority, or 34 votes, to override Adams’ veto and had 30 days to do so. Unless the Council drums up more votes before Thursday, the bill will not be put to the floor.

COPA would have given city-approved nonprofits, as well as joint ventures between nonprofits and for-profit companies, the first opportunity to purchase certain multifamily buildings that are distressed or have a soon-to-expire affordability requirement. Those approved entities would have also had the chance to match competing bids.

The Council approved COPA in December with 30 votes. Council member Julie Menin, now speaker, was one of eight members who abstained from the vote

Before its passage, the measure was amended to reduce the pool of eligible buildings and shorten the period of time that nonprofits and eligible joint ventures can exclusively vie for properties.

Still, the changes were not enough to win over industry critics. The measure was vehemently opposed by landlord groups, arguing that it would scare away would-be buyers and slow down sales. After the mayor vetoed the bill, Ann Korchak, board president of Small Property Owners of New York, or SPONY, said the “misguided law should never have come this close to seeing the light of day.”

Before leaving office, Adams also vetoed three bills that set new rules for the kind of housing the city finances. The Council is declining to revive at least one of those measures, which would have set minimum thresholds for the percentage of two- and three-room apartments in city-funded projects. It wasn’t immediately clear where the other bills stood.

When he was running for mayor, Zohran Mamdani said he would help the City Council approve COPA. The City Council could still move forward with another version of the bill. Some critics have suggested launching a pilot program to test out the policy.