Jacob Schneider (East New York CLT) on COPA and racial justice

Right, four names, four people, okay.

And whoever is ready can begin when ready.

Thank you, Chair Sanchez, for the opportunity to testify in support of COVA.

My name is Jacob Schneider, and I am the Senior Program Manager for Research and Policy at the East New York Community Land Trust, which fights displacement and real estate speculation in East New York and Brownsville through community and tenant organizing and community ownership of permanently affordable land and housing.

We fully support COPA and urge the council to pass it now.

Our communities, like so many others across the city, deal with a problematic status quo.

Investors and speculators from outside of our communities purchase buildings and milk tenants for profit, using rent to line their pockets instead of maintaining and repairing their buildings.

When buildings are sold, often without tenants having a clue that the owner is selling, another faceless LLC buys it with the same goal, profiting on the backs of black and brown tenants.

This cycle continues apace, and each time is a lost opportunity for tenants to have a

affordable, stable, and well-maintained homes.

COPA is a tool for tenants, community land trusts, and other organizations committed to providing safe and decent affordable housing to counter the status quo.

Based on our analysis of sales in East New York and Brownsville from 2016 to 2025, we found that 80% of buildings with four or more units were purchased by outside investors.

We have organized tenants in several of these buildings, and most have to beg for even the simplest of repairs.

COPA targets slumlords who value profit more than the welfare and dignity of their tenants, who tend to be black and brown.

Based on our citywide analysis of properties that would be COPA eligible, East New York has the fifth highest number of properties eligible for COPA in the city, and Brownsville ranks eighth.

Nearly all of them qualify because their buildings show signs of sustained physical distress.

This is not unique to East New York and Brownsville.

Our citywide analysis of properties that would likely be eligible for COPA shows that more than 75% of these buildings and more than 80% of all COPA eligible units are located in communities that are majority black and brown.

We urge the council to pass COPA now.

COPA is a powerful and yet targeted tool that works towards both housing and racial justice.

For council members that may have reservations about COPA, they must ask themselves, are you fine with the status quo?

Do you want to deprive black and brown tenants working with vetted nonprofits of the chance for dignified, stable, and affordable homes?

If the answer is no to these questions, then you must be a yes on COPA.

Thank you.