Thinking about selling a building in New York City? These groups could receive the initial chance to buy.
In the Big Apple, “COPA” stands for more than a late-night club.
On Tuesday, New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani enacted the Community Opportunity to Purchase Act (COPA) into law, granting nonprofits and community groups first dibs on certain New York City buildings. The measure will become effective in November 2027.
COPA requires building owners to notify the city’s housing department when they plan to sell specific properties, including distressed multifamily buildings with four or more units and buildings with 100 units or fewer that are subject to affordability rules. The city then allows eligible nonprofits and community groups to submit offers on these properties before private buyers. These groups have 20 days to file a statement of interest and 70 days to present a first bid. The law also grants them a “right of first refusal if an owner receives an offer from a person other than a qualified entity.”
COPA was first proposed back in 2020, and a prior version of the bill passed the City Council in December 2025. That version, however, was vetoed by former Mayor Eric Adams on his last day in office. This year, the City Council, led by COPA’s main sponsor, Council member Sandy Nurse, pushed through a scaled-back bill that covers 2,100 buildings (instead of 10,000), according to amNY. Before the City Council’s vote, Nurse said that the city cannot build its “way out of this crisis,” and COPA is necessary to preserve existing housing, The Times.
Even the softened COPA framework might ease some concerns from real estate interests, yet critics such as Manhattan Institute senior fellow John Ketcham argue COPA still raises other issues. In December 2025, Ketcham wrote in City Journal that COPA “rests on the flawed premises that nonprofit ownership is inherently superior to private ownership and that city government should tilt the scales toward nonprofit ownership.”
Although COPA’s backers argue that nonprofits will be better at safeguarding tenants and maintaining buildings, Ketcham also noted that “there is little reason to think that nonprofits would be better at addressing cold boilers, leaky roofs, and other maintenance needs.” Nonprofits, like private landlords, can also evict tenants, he added.
And as The New York Times has pointed out, a 2025 report from New York University’s Furman Center has warned that opportunity to purchase laws like COPA, especially in softer markets, could discourage investments by “imposing timing delays and legal process costs.”
Erik Engquist of The Real Deal argued that “COPA doesn’t improve the difficult economics of buying and operating distressed buildings,” as the few nonprofits able to buy these buildings have been allowed to bid on them without COPA.
“It simply adds a bureaucratic layer,” he wrote in October.
Imposing more bureaucracy on the housing market rather than reducing it is not unusual for New York City under Mamdani. Just last month, a rent freeze for tenants went into effect. While some renters benefiting from capped rents may welcome government involvement in housing, expanding government oversight is unlikely to sustainably lower prices over time.
