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Advocates on Bronx Talk urge council to override veto on COPPA to preserve housing through community land trusts
Summary
On Bronx Talk, Elena Rodriguez of the New Economy Project and Edward Garcia of the Northwest Bronx Community and Clergy Coalition outlined how the Community Opportunity to Purchase Act (COPPA) would let community land trusts bid on at‑risk multifamily buildings and argued tenants should organize now so CLTs can act when properties are listed.
Elena Rodriguez, a staff attorney with the New Economy Project, and Edward Garcia, development director at the Northwest Bronx Community and Clergy Coalition, told Bronx Talk listeners that the Community Opportunity to Purchase Act (COPPA) would give mission‑driven nonprofits and community land trusts a pathway to acquire at‑risk multifamily buildings and keep them permanently affordable.
Rodriguez said the measure was approved by the City Council last session "by a vote of 38 to 8" but was later vetoed by former Mayor Eric Adams; she urged the new council and administration to move quickly. "COPPA is really a tool to preserve affordable housing," Rodriguez said, adding that San Francisco’s similar program "has stabilized over 1,000 tenants" since it was adopted in 2019.
The Nut Graf: Advocates presented COPPA as a preservation rather than development restriction—designed to level the playing field…
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