Will Spisak (New Economy Project) on COPA as proven, urgently needed tool

Thank you.

Thank you, Ariel.

Thank you, Chair Sanchez.

My name is Will Spisak, Senior Policy Strategist at New Economy Project, where I help coordinate the New York City Community Land Initiative, a coalition that's championed COPA since 2020, before it was cool,

alongside hundreds of groups and thousands of working class New Yorkers across the city.

I want to make three key points in my testimony today.

First, COPA is a proven and urgently needed tool to address the affordability crisis.

Even the most ambitious targets for new construction will fail to address the crisis unless there's a robust preservation strategy.

Cities like San Francisco,

have implemented COPA and preserved thousands of permanent homes.

COPA will have a similar impact in New York City, keeping tens of thousands of tenants in place and ensuring permanent affordability and homeownership opportunities.

Second, Intro 905 has been carefully adapted to New York City context to protect multifamily buildings in greatest need of preservation.

COPA covers multifamily properties with persistent physical distress or expiring affordability restrictions, conditions that make these buildings prime targets for speculators and frequently lead to tenant displacement and lost affordability.

Under 300 buildings sold last year would have been covered by COPA based on our analysis.

That's about 1% of real estate transactions in 2025.

But for those families who call those buildings home, COPA is transformative, giving them a fighting chance to stay in New York City.

New York's COPA legislation reflects over five years of careful city council deliberation, broad public input, and learning from San Francisco and other cities.

Who have implemented it.

Finally, COPA levels the playing field for vetted organizations to compete in a housing market under extreme speculative pressure.

In closing, I just want to mention that Intro 905 is a clear, equitable, and proven policy that will help New York City address the worsening affordability crisis.

And this bill is backed by a strikingly broad coalition that includes hundreds of tenant associations and homeownership advocates, community land trust and CDCs, nonprofits,

and mission-aligned for-profit housing developers, organized labor, if I can just finish my thought, community development financial institutions and credit unions that finance affordable housing, youth and senior advocates, you get the point,

and many, many others.

We're all ready to ensure that COPA is effectively implemented.

The City Council has this monumentous opportunity to pass COPA.

again, and help keep working class New Yorkers in New York City.

COPA has the votes.

It has the backing of the entire housing movement.

The mayor is ready to sign it.

It's time to get this done.

Let's pass COPA once and for all.

Thank you.

Thank you, Will.

See, people still have energy.

Y'all been rallying since nine.

Thank you so much, Will.

Thank you so much, Ariel.

So next up, we have Semi Abinder, Linda Peterson, and Joshua Santiago.

Viv Carter.

Karen Baez.

Yes.

Come on up.

Yeah.

Please begin when ready.