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Council progressives had hoped they could convince fellow lawmakers to override former Mayor Adams’ veto and pass the Community Opportunity to Purchase Act. But new Speaker Menin, who abstained from voting on COPA last year, declined to call it for an override vote, effectively killing it—for now.
A lot can change in a month.
A social housing bill that would give community groups first dibs on buying certain residential buildings was unceremoniously vetoed by Mayor Eric Adams—one of 20 bills he struck down on his last day in office.
Since then, Mayor Zohran Mamdani was inaugurated, five new members joined the City Council and Julie Menin became its new speaker.
Council progressives had hoped they could convince a new Council to override the former mayor’s veto and pass the Community Opportunity to Purchase Act, or COPA. Mamdani backed the bill, while real estate groups were strongly opposed.
But the mood shifted late in the game this week. Legal issues reportedly scared off some supporters. New Speaker Menin, who abstained from voting on COPA last year, declined to call it for an override vote, effectively killing it.
Councilmember Sandy Nurse, COPA’s sponsor, expressed disappointment with the defeat of a bill she said was the Council Progressive Caucus’s top priority.
Supporters say it would give mission-driven groups, including community land trusts, a leg up against deep-pocketed real estate speculators in the city’s competitive housing market. The amended version of the bill passed by lawmakers in December applied specifically to buildings in physical distress or where affordable rent requirements are expiring.
“Our good faith effort to create a targeted, legally-sound preservation tool was met with a well-funded misinformation campaign from the most powerful real estate interests in the city,” Nurse told City Limits in a statement.
But the bill faced intense opposition from real estate groups, who said it unfairly favors nonprofits at the expense of private property owners. Ann Korchak, who represents the group Small Property Owners of New York, previously called COPA, “government-engineered interference in private free-market transactions.”
Lawmakers said they would reintroduce COPA later this year.
The Council also declined to override a veto on a bill from Bronx Councilmember Eric Dinowitz that would have mandated at least 25 percent of units in new affordable housing be two-bedrooms, and 15 percent be three-bedrooms.
But lawmakers voted to override vetoes on two other housing bills: one that mandates minimums for homeownership units, and another that requires the city to finance a minimum percentage of units priced for “very low” or “extremely low” income households (up to $43,740 and $72,900 for a family of three, respectively).
All three bills passed in December with a supermajority of support. The Department of Housing Preservation and Development and Mayor Mamdani were opposed to all three, which they say would cost $600 million dollars a year or result in more than 3,275 fewer affordable units overall.
The Council also overrode vetoes on a package of bills that reform the city’s tax lien sale. Instead of selling tax debts to a trust, the legislation redirects distressed property to a city-established land bank that can acquire and transfer property.
Speaker Menin’s office did not respond to requests for comment about why some bills advanced but not others. But a spokesperson told City & State earlier this week that the bills didn’t have the votes to override a mayoral veto, which requires a supermajority.
Dinowitz said he would work with HPD and City Hall on a new version later this year.
“It’s absolutely a crisis that we are not building enough family-sized units,” said Councilmember Eric Dinowitz. “Shelters are inundated with families and children.”
He said that while his bill would not have affected the current affordable housing pipeline, there were concerns that it would change how newly constructed buildings would be designed.
Here’s what else happened this week —
ICYMI, from City Limits:
- Mayor Mamdani is pushing to tax the rich to pay for his ambitious affordability agenda. City Limits spoke to experts and advocates about what that might look like. One takeaway? A pied-à-terre tax—targeting New Yorkers with multimillion-dollar second homes—isn’t high on progressives’ priorities list, as it wouldn’t raise enough revenue to make the political fight worthwhile.
- Amid frigid temperatures, New Yorkers lodged 26,000 311 complaints about lack of heat or hot water over the last week, the most in a seven-day period since 2018. City Limits’ reporter Patrick Spauster spoke to WNYC’s The Brian Lehrer Show about what landlords are required to provide, and what tenants can do if their heat isn’t working.
- New York approved a massive new casino project for Queens. Supporters say it’ll create 25 acres of new green space on what’s currently a parking spot. But opponents say the entire 50-acre site should be used as a climate resilient park to help curb flooding in the low-lying area, which is hemmed in by Flushing Bay and Flushing Creek.
- State lawmakers should pass the Accelerate Solar for Affordable Power Act (ASAP Act), which would “double New York’s rooftop and community solar goal, and cut red tape to lower the costs of getting community solar connected to the grid” argues op-ed author Kate Selden of the nonprofit Solar One.
ICYMI, from other local newsrooms:
- The City spoke to unhoused New Yorkers living outside this week despite the frigid temperatures. One man said the shelter system wouldn’t allow him to enter with his cat, while others said they preferred to avoid the conditions and strict rules at some shelter facilities.
- Voters last fall approved changes to the city’s land use approval process that gives borough presidents a bigger role. Gothamist examines how they might wield their new power.
- The New York Times covers the trial of Randy Rodriguez Santos, who is accused of killing four homeless men in Chinatown in 2019, an attack that drew renewed attention to the dangers unhoused New Yorkers face.
- More towns in upstate New York are opting into Good Cause Eviction protections, Shelterforce reports.
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