Jessica Balgobin (Queens CLT/Chaya CDC) on COPA and community momentum

Dear Councilmember Sanchez and members of the Housing and Buildings Committee, thank you for holding today's hearing and for the opportunity to testify.

My name is Jessica Balgabin.

I am a lifelong resident of Queens and a CLT organizer with Queens Community Land Trust at Chaya CDC.

When my family immigrated from Guyana to South Queens 30 years ago, they established roots in neighborhoods like Richmond Hill and South Ozone Park that reflected the needs of our communities as Indo-Caribbeans.

However, over the last few years, previously bustling Caribbean commercial corridors like Jamaica Avenue lost mom-and-pop shops to big corporations.

The cultural integrity of these communities are now threatened by speculative corporations and predatory landlords, and the lack of deeply affordable housing across neighborhoods like Queens Village, Jamaica, and South Ozone Park is of utmost concern to residents and CLT members alike.

Tenants like myself can no longer afford to pay their rents and stay in the neighborhoods we are deeply rooted in.

We urgently need Community Opportunity to Purchase Act, or COPA, into 905 that will give vetted nonprofits, including community land trusts, the first chance to purchase certain at-risk multifamily buildings when a landlord decides to sell.

COPA will allow for communities like those we work with and live in to stabilize and expand the supply of permanently affordable homes that New Yorkers are in desperate need of.

There is real community momentum in favor of COPA.

My team and I engaged over 2,500 community members and colleagues.

collected more than 300 postcards signed in support of COPA.

We can take measurable steps to help prevent ongoing gentrification and displacement from wreaking havoc across Queens and beyond.

I urge you to pass COPA now.

Thank you for your time.