Council Member Pierina Sanchez explains vote on COPA
Council Member Pierina Ana Sanchez explains her vote in favor of COPA, detailing how it targets distressed buildings and gives mission-driven organizations a chance to acquire them. She congratulates Council Member Nurse.
Marina Sanchez.
Permission to explain my vote?
Permission granted.
Thank you, Majority Leader.
New York City is facing a housing crisis, not only because we lack affordable homes, but because too many of the homes we already have are deteriorating under cycles of speculation, disinvestment, and neglect.
Today's vote on Councilmember Nurse's Community Opportunity to Purchase Act gives us a powerful new tool to interrupt those cycles at the point of sale for a limited set of properties.
Those that are between 4 and 100 units that either have an affordability agreement already that is managed by HPD or have a baseline level of physical distress.
COPA recognizes that the moment a building changes hands is a critical opportunity to change its future
by giving mission-driven organizations, qualified entities, a meaningful chance to acquire the buildings and chart a different, non-speculative future for the families who live there.
Congratulations, Councilmember Sandy Nurse, for your persistence and patience to get COPA across the finish line to the COPA Coalition, led by New Economy Project and the New York City Land Initiative, and tenant organizers across the city, including our Bronx in my neck of the woods.
If you live in a nice private home with a front yard and a backyard, congrats, that's great.
But for those of us who represent communities who need our help, this is a critical tool in the arsenal.
Sorry I can't make the celebration, child care, but please celebrate for me.
And with that, I vote aye on all.
Thank you.
Aldebar.