Testimony Re: Community Land Act
Re: T2025-3401 Oversight - Social Housing; Community Land Act (Int 0078-2024; Int 0902-2024; Res 0374-2024); Int 1006-2024; Int 1007-2024; Int 0570-2024; Int 0350-2024; Res 0777-2025
Chair Sanchez and members of the Committee on Housing and Buildings, thank you for the opportunity to testify in support of several important bills to advance community land stewardship and housing affordability. I am Sylvia Morse, Senior Program Manager for Research and Policy at the Pratt Center for Community Development, which conducts research and technical assistance in collaboration with community-based organizations on land use and housing policy in New York City, including to Community Land Trusts (CLTs) as members of the New York City Community Land Initiative (NYCCLI).
We urge this Committee and the City Council to pass the Community Land Act, a package of bills to address our city’s affordability crisis by advancing deeply affordable, democratically-stewarded land and housing, including: Public Land for Public Good (Intro 78), the Community Opportunity to Purchase Act (COPA) (Intro 902) and the Resolution in support of the Tenant Opportunity to Purchase Act (TOPA) (Reso 374). These bills will help level the playing field for CLTs and other nonprofits to meet their communities’ housing and economic development needs, and ensure that the City is maximizing its land and affordable housing resources for public benefit.
We also support the other bills and resolutions being discussed today that will advance community stewardship of land for long-term affordability. We call on the City Council to pass the Land Bank Bill (Intro 570), as well as Intros 1006 and 1007, which will expand the legal definition and regulatory agreements for CLTs to include land uses beyond housing such as commercial, community, and open space. We also strongly support Reso-777 in support of the State bill to establish a statewide Social Housing Development Authority to create and preserve deeply affordable housing, and Intro-350 to study the feasibility of creating a social housing agency.
Pratt Center has a long history of researching and advocating for strategies to combat displacement, preserve affordable housing, and give tenants a say in the future of their homes and neighborhoods. Our report on Community Land Trusts, Gaining Ground, identified the land acquisition and disposition, funding, and regulatory reforms proposed in the below bills and resolutions as key strategies to expand community-controlled, deeply affordable land and housing.
1. Pass the Community Land Act (Int 0078-2024; Int 0902-2024; Res 0374-2024)
Passage of the Community Land Act will help our organizations take land off the speculative market and provide the deeply affordable housing our communities need.
Specifically, the Community Land Act legislative package includes the following:
Public Land for Public Good(Intro 78) – which 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 benefits. City-owned land is currently scarce and is increasingly valuable amidst rising land and housing costs. As of 2023, for instance, HPD had disposed of nearly all (99.5%) of properties obtained via in rem foreclosure since 1994. The city’s remaining land resources–and any new land it acquires–should be maximized for public benefit, yet the majority of requests for proposals for housing development are granted to for-profit entities. Public Land for Public Good would protect city land subsidies by prioritizing them to housing nonprofits and CLTs, which guarantee permanent affordability.
Community Opportunity to Purchase Act (Intro 902), which would give qualified nonprofits the first right to purchase multifamily buildings when a landlord decides to sell. Modeled on legislation that has preserved thousands of affordable homes in Washington, D.C., San Francisco, and other jurisdictions, COPA would help curb speculation and expand the supply of permanently-affordable, community-controlled housing. COPA would be most impactful if implemented alongside the Tenant Opportunity to Purchase Act at the State level (Reso 374), which would enable tenants to partner with CLTs and mission-driven nonprofits to preserve and create affordable housing.
2. Expand the legal definition of and tools for CLTs for more services and land uses
CLTs are an essential tool for preserving deep affordability of land not just for housing, but for community, commercial, and open space–and for community-led planning to define and plan for those needs. Yet, the sections of the administrative code directing City agencies to work with CLTs are currently too narrow. Passing Intros 1006 and 1007 will ensure that agencies are empowered to work with CLTs that provide space that meets community needs outside of housing, reflect the city’s CLT growing sector and expand opportunities for local small businesses, community-based organizations, and community members to access stable and affordable space in their neighborhoods.
3. Support social housing development and preservation (Res-777, Int-350)
We also support Reso 777 in support of the State bill to establish a statewide Social Housing Development Authority to create and preserve deeply affordable housing, and Intro 350 to study the feasibility of creating a social housing agency.
Finally, we urge the City Council to continue and enhance funding for the Citywide CLT Initiative at $3 million in the FY2026 budget. With Council’s support, the Citywide CLT Initiative, launched in FY2020, has helped catalyze the growth of more than 20 CLTs across the five boroughs – half of which now steward or are in the process of acquiring land for tenant and community-controlled housing, community and commercial spaces. Groups have engaged thousands of New Yorkers in community education and organizing, delivered comprehensive legal and technical support to emerging and established CLTs, and brought land and housing into community control. With this enhancement, the initiative will support 20 organizations, including new CLTs in Edgemere, Queens, and Flatbush, Brooklyn. It will also expand citywide education, organizing, and technical assistance to meet the growing and urgent need for CLTs, including funding our organization as a new member of the Initiative. Enhanced funding for the Citywide CLT Initiative will enable Pratt Center to expand our data analysis and mapping, community engagement, and research and planning technical assistance services to CLTs across the city.
We appreciate the Committee on Housing and Buildings holding this hearing to discuss new strategies to address the urgent housing crisis facing our city, including expanding community-controlled, deeply affordable housing, strengthening tenant rights, and ensuring funding to house the most vulnerable tenants.
Note: This reflects the position of Pratt Center for Community Development and not necessarily Pratt Institute.
For more information, contact Sylvia Morse, s.morse@pratt.edu.