FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: January 27, 2026
COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT LENDERS URGE NYC COUNCIL AND SPEAKER MENIN TO ENACT THE COMMUNITY OPPORTUNITY TO PURCHASE ACT
LENDER NETWORK ANNOUNCES IT IS READY TO SUPPORT COPA’S EFFECTIVE IMPLEMENTATION
As the NYC Council deliberates overriding Eric Adams’ final-hour veto of the Community Opportunity to Purchase Act (COPA), prominent local and national community development financial institutions (CDFIs) and other affordable housing lenders released the following statement:“As local and national community development lenders with decades of experience financing affordable housing, we write to express our support for Intro 902-B, the Community Opportunity to Purchase Act (COPA), a policy that will give communities new tools to expand and protect urgently needed, community- and tenant-led affordable housing across New York City. We look forward to participating in the implementation of COPA and contributing to the policy’s success, and we urge Speaker Menin and the Council to enact COPA without delay.
“COPA gives qualified buyers, including nonprofits and joint ventures with demonstrated financial and technical capacity, a first opportunity to purchase designated multifamily properties when they are put up for sale. New York City’s COPA legislation limits covered properties to those with four or more units that are in significant distress, or where affordable restrictions are soon to expire. In this way, the policy aims to stabilize homes for New Yorkers at high risk of displacement.
“Qualified buyers will have a short but meaningful window of opportunity to put in offers to purchase—and access to fast, flexible, and affordable capital will be key. As community development lenders, our institutions have deep experience making loans to support a range of housing needs, from permanently affordable rentals and supportive housing to limited equity cooperatives, or HDFCs. Many of our institutions have financed the kinds of nonprofit housing acquisitions, as well as conversions to tenant ownership, that COPA will facilitate. Many of our institutions also provide capacity-building and technical assistance to nonprofits and mission-driven developers, as well as consumer mortgage loans to support individuals and families purchasing co-op apartments. We look forward to supporting expanded opportunities for community and tenant ownership of affordable housing, by providing qualified buyers with low-cost down payment and acquisition loans, bridge financing, as well as capital for needed building repairs.
“In 2024, for example, the National Housing Trust provided the East New York Community Land Trust with low-cost financing to purchase a 20-unit apartment building from a private Brooklyn landlord, at a fair market value. The organization is now working with tenants to make overdue repairs, with financing from the New Economy Loan Fund and other sources, and convert the building to a shared equity cooperative, giving tenants permanent ownership of their homes.
“Success stories like these will be multiplied with COPA’s enactment. Indeed, responsible lenders including community development financial institutions (CDFIs) have played essential roles in other cities, such as San Francisco, that have already implemented their own Opportunity to Purchase policies, preserving thousands of affordable homes that would otherwise have been lost to the speculative market.
“Private financing from responsible, mission-driven lenders like ours will complement city and state affordable housing programs—enabling COPA purchasers to move quickly to bring housing into tenant and community ownership. Sellers will benefit, in turn, from an enhanced pool of potential buyers able to meet COPA’s efficient timelines.
“We look forward to COPA’s enactment in New York City and to working with the affordable housing community to ensure its effective implementation.”
Signed:
National Cooperative Bank
Nonprofit Finance Fund
Inclusiv
Seed Commons
Rochdale Capital
Lower East Side People’s Federal Credit Union
Brooklyn Cooperative Federal Credit Union
Center for NYC Neighborhoods, Inc., on behalf of its subsidiary, Sustainable Neighborhoods LLC
HomeOwnership Lending
New Economy Loan Fund
The Working World
nyccli.org 