CAMPAIGNS WE SUPPORT
We are a proud member of the New York City Community Land Initiative (NYCCLI), an alliance of grassroots and community-led organizations working together to support and expand Community Land Trusts (CLTs) in the city and beyond. As a member of this alliance, we support campaigns seeking to decrease real-estate speculation, gentrification, and evictions carried out in coalition with grassroots and community-based groups working city- and state-wide to preserve and expand low-income and permanently affordable housing.
COMMUNITY LAND ACT
The Community Land Act is an urgently-needed bill set that gives community land trusts (CLTs) and other nonprofits tools to develop and preserve permanently affordable housing, community and commercial spaces, and other critical needs. Together, these measures address the root causes of our city’s affordability crisis, combat the displacement of low-income New Yorkers, and build collective wealth in Black and immigrant communities. It includes the following:
01
COMMUNITY OPPORTUNITY TO PURCHASE ACT (COPA)
The Community Opportunity to Purchase Act (Intro 196) gives CLTs and other mission-driven nonprofits a first right to purchase multifamily buildings when landlords sell. Modeled on successful legislation implemented in Washington, D.C., and San Francisco, COPA would curb speculation and level the playing field for nonprofits to expand the supply of permanently-affordable, community- and tenant-controlled housing.
03
ABOLISH AND REPLACE THE NYC LIEN SALE
Abolish and Replace the NYC Lien Sale urges the City Council to pass legislation prohibiting NYC from resuming the tax lien sale — a Giuliani-era policy that has destabilized and extracted wealth from Black and brown communities — and replace it with an equitable system that engages CLTs to keep New Yorkers in their homes and convert financially distressed buildings into permanently-affordable housing.
02
TENANT OPPORTUNITY TO PURCHASE ACT (TOPA)
The Tenant Opportunity to Purchase Resolution (Res 38) calls on the New York State legislature and Governor Hochul to enact legislation giving tenants a first right to collectively purchase their buildings when a landlord sells.
04
PUBLIC LAND FOR PUBLIC GOOD
Public Land for Public Good (Intro 637) addresses the fact that most city-owned land currently goes to for-profit developers, contributing to market-rate development and displacement in low-income Black and Brown communities. Intro 637 would require NYC to prioritize CLTs and nonprofit developers when disposing of City-owned land, to ensure public land is used for permanently-affordable housing and other public benefit.