Council Member Joseph explains vote on COPA
Council Member Rita Joseph speaks in support of COPA, sharing stories from her district of tenants suffering from neglectful landlords. She argues COPA will keep buildings affordable and in community hands.
Joseph.
I vote aye.
Permission to explain my vote.
And I also, on the record, would like to say I'm a parent of a New York City public school student.
Permission granted.
Thank you.
Thank you, Majority Leader.
In January, when COPA fell short, I told tenants of District 40 that the fight was not over.
Today, we keep that promise.
I want to thank Councilmember Nurse for never backing down, for years of negotiating, listening, and refusing to let this bill die.
Thank you to the tenant organizers, the community land trust, and the advocates who kept showing up.
Thank you to the speaker and the mayor for helping bring COPA home.
Let me tell you why this matters.
Flatbush and Prospect Park, Lefferts Garden and Dittmas Park, Crown Heights, my office take calls, no heat in January, mold in a baby's bedroom, ceilings coming down, repairs promised and never made.
Too many of our constituents live in buildings owned by landlords who treat their homes as a line on a spreadsheet.
And when those buildings are sold, they often go to developers and the cycle starts all over again.
COPA breaks that cycle.
When a distressed building goes up for sale, mission-driven non-for-profits and community land trusts will finally get a fair shot at buying it and keeping it affordable, safe, and in the hands of the community.
As a forever educator, I know for more than two decades, I learned that a child cannot learn without a stable home.
And this is what's at stake for the families in these buildings.
And that is why COPA matter.
Housing is not.
Not a commodity.
It is a home.
I probably vote iron.
Krishnan.