The Community Land Act is an urgently-needed set of bills that give community land trusts (CLTs) and other nonprofits tools to develop and preserve permanently-affordable housing, community and commercial spaces, and other critical needs. Together, these measures address root causes of our city’s affordability crisis, combat displacement of low-income New Yorkers, and build collective wealth in Black and brown communities.
The Community Land Act includes:
- Community Opportunity to Purchase Act (Intro 196): COPA gives CLTs and other mission-driven nonprofits a first right to purchase multifamily buildings when landlords sell. Modeled on successful legislation implemented in Washington, D.C., and San Francisco, COPA would curb speculation and level the playing field for nonprofits to expand the supply of permanently-affordable, community- and tenant-controlled housing. Click here for a F.A.Q on the Community Opportunity to Purchase Act.
- Public Land for Public Good (Intro 637): Most City-owned land currently goes to for-profit developers, contributing to market-rate development and displacement in low-income Black and Brown communities. Intro 637 would require NYC to prioritize CLTs and nonprofit developers when disposing of City-owned land, to ensure public land is used for permanently-affordable housing and other public benefit. Click here for a F.A.Q. on Public Land for Public Good.
- Tenant Opportunity to Purchase Resolution (Res 38): Resolution 38 calls on the New York State legislature and Governor Hochul to enact legislation giving tenants a first right to collectively purchase their buildings when a landlord sells.
- Abolish and Replace the NYC Lien Sale: The City Council must pass legislation prohibiting NYC from resuming the tax lien sale — a Giuliani-era policy that has destabilized and extracted wealth from Black and brown communities — and replace it with an equitable system that engages CLTs to keep New Yorkers in their homes and convert financially distressed buildings into permanently-affordable housing.
Take Action
- Use this tool to send a personalized email to your Council Member, urging them to co-sponsor and fight for passage of the Community Land Act.
- Sign your organization on to endorse the Community Land Act.
- See video from the New York City Council’s Committee on Housing and Buildings hearing on the Community Land Act here.
- Check out footage from recent Community Land Act Town Halls in Queens and Manhattan.
- Download and share our Community Land Act one-pager, in English, Spanish, or Bangla!
The NYC Community Land Act in the News
NYC Is Giving Public Lands to For-Profit Developers That Price Out Locals, Report Finds – Vice, November 2, 2023
New Research Shows Nonprofits Vastly Outdid For-Profits in Creation of Deeply Affordable Housing – Press Release, November 2, 2023
BK’s 4 Community Land Trusts Could Revolutionize Affordable Housing, Experts Say – Brooklyn Reader, September 18, 2023
In New York, Proposed Legislation Grants Opportunity to Tenants and Community Land Trusts to Purchase Land or Buildings – The Architect’s Newspaper, September 8, 2023
Opinion: For a Healthier City, New York Must Pass the Community Land Act – City & State New York, July 18, 2023
Community Land Trusts Are Working to Create New Homeowners – New York Times, July 8, 2023
Piden Concejo Municipal Apruebe Paquete de Leyes en Favor de Vivienda Asequible – Spectrum Noticias NY1, June 23, 2023
New York’s Moment for Community Land and Affordable Housing – Gotham Gazette, June 22, 2023
Groups Tell Speaker Adams: Time is Now for ‘Social Housing’ Bills – City Limits, May 17, 2023Letter to Mayor Adams and Speaker Adams in Support of the Community Land Act, May 16, 2023
New York City Council Pushes Affordable Housing Package – NYN Media, May 3, 2023
New York Considers Community Land Trusts – The Prospect, May 3, 2023
Opinion: With Community Land Trusts Back in the Spotlight, Lessons from 1970s NYC – City Limits, April 27, 2023
Social Housing in the Spotlight: NYC Lawmakers Seek ‘Paradigm Shift’ in Tackling Affordability Crisis – City Limits, March 10, 2023
Community Groups Push for Community Control of Open Space in the South Bronx – Mott Haven Herald, March 3, 2023
‘Public Land For Public Good,’ Say Housing Advocates – New York Amsterdam News, March 2, 2023
Progressive Pols Press NYC Council to Prioritize Nonprofit Housing Ownership – AM New York, February 24, 2023
NYC Comptroller, Public Advocate, Council Members, Advocates Rally for New Vision for Housing – Press Release, February 23, 2023
Why Brooklyn Residents Want Public Land In Public Hands – Next City, February 9, 2023
Community Land Act Endorsers
89th Street Tenants Unidos Association
AD—WO
Affordable Housing is For All (AHIFA)
A. Philip Randolph Square Neighborhood Alliance
Art Against Displacement
Asian Americans for Equality
Association for Neighborhood and Housing Development (ANHD)
Astoria Not for Sale
Bailey’s Cafe
Biotech Without Borders
Black Trans Media
Blacklining Foundationv
Bronx Community Land Trust
Brooklyn Cooperative Federal Credit Union
Brooklyn Level Up
Brownsville Partnership
Caribbean Equality Project
Carroll Gardens Association
Catholic Migration Services
Center for Family Life in Sunset Park
Center for New York City Neighborhoods
Chhaya CDC
Chinatown CLT
The Chocolate Factory Theater
Churches United for Fair Housing
Columbia University White Coats for Black Lives
Community Allies
Community and Worker Ownership Project at CUNY School of Labor and
Urban Studies
Community Resource Exchange
Community Service Society of New York
Community Solutions
Community Voices Heard
Cooper Square Committee
Cooper Square Community Land Trust
Cooper Square Mutual Housing Association II, HDFC
Cooperative Economics Alliance of NYC
Crown Heights Tenant Union
Custom Collaborative
CUNY School of Law Community & Economic Development Clinic
DSA Queens Housing Working Group
East Harlem/El Barrio Community Land Trust
East New York Community Land Trust
East New York 4 Gardens
East River Park Action
El Puente de Williamsburg
Flatbush Tenant Coalition
The Flatbush Workshop for Design
For the Many
Goddard Riverside
Green Map System
Grow Brownsville
GrowHouse NYC
The Health & Housing Consortium
Hester Street
Housing Conservation Coordinators
Housing Court Answers
Housing Justice for All
Housing Organizers for People Empowerment of East Brooklyn (HOPE)
Housing Rights Initiative
Housing Rights Project at CUNY Law
Housing Works
IMPACCT Brooklyn
Inclusiv
Southside United HDFC- Los Sures
League of Independent Theater
LEAPS (Limited Equity and Affordability at Penn South)
Lower East Side People’s Federal Credit Union
Malikah
MinKwon Center for Community Action
Mothers on the Move / Madres en Movimiento
The Mothership NYC
Mott Haven Port Morris Community Land Stewards
Neighborhood Housing Services of Brooklyn CDC, Inc.
New Destiny Housing Corp.
New Economy Project
New Immigrant Community Empowerment
New York City Community Land Initiative
NYC Youth Sports Podcast Show INC.
New Yorkers for Culture & Arts
NY Muslim Organizing Collective
North Star Fund
Northern Manhattan Community Land Trust
Northwest Bronx Community and Clergy Coalition
Not One More Block
NYC Arts in Education Roundtable
NYC HDFC
Opera House Tenants Union
Parsons Housing Justice Lab
Picture the Homeless
Pratt Center for Community Development
Public Ceramics
Q Gardens Community Farm
ReAL Edgemere Community Land Trust
Right to Counsel NYC Coalition
Riverside Edgecombe Neighborhood Association
Save63Tiffany
South Bronx Unite
Stabilizing NYC
St. Nicks Alliance
STooPS Art & Community
Street Vendor Project, Urban Justice Center
Strycker’s Bay Neighborhood Council
The Supportive Housing Network of New York
TakeBackNYC
TakeRoot Justice
Tenants and Neighbors
Tenants Political Action Committee
Theatre of the Oppressed NYC
This Land is Ours Community Land Trust
Urban Homesteading Assistance Board
United Neighbors Organization
Universe City
Urban Justice Center – Safety Net Project
Village Preservation
WE ACT for Environmental Justice
We Are Not Afraid Community Resource Center
We Stay/Nos Quedamos
Western Queens Community Land Trust
Woodside on the Move
Youth Ministries for Peace and Justice
nyccli.org 