The City Council on Thursday resurrected a controversial housing bill vetoed by former Mayor Eric Adams , approving a dramatically scaled-back measure that would give nonprofits first crack at buying certain apartment buildings.

The Community Opportunity to Purchase Act , or COPA, passed on Oct. 22 after lawmakers narrowed its reach by nearly 80%, from roughly 10,000 buildings to 2,100, following months of negotiations aimed at addressing legal concerns and opposition from the real estate industry.

The legislation, sponsored by Brooklyn Council Member Sandy Nurse, would give qualified nonprofit housing organizations an early opportunity to purchase certain distressed and affordable residential buildings when their owners decide to sell, with the goal of preventing displacement and preserving affordable housing.

The bill passed by a vote of 38 to 9, with two abstentions, and now heads to Mayor Zohran Mamdani, who has pledged to sign it.

Its passage marks a political comeback for legislation that appeared to be in trouble earlier this year, when the city's Law Department raised legal concerns about the previous version and the Council declined to override Adams' veto.

Speaking ahead of Thursday's vote, Council Speaker Julie Menin said lawmakers had spent months working with Nurse, the real estate industry and other stakeholders to address those concerns.

"The universe of properties was narrowed to about 2,100 buildings from the original approximately 10,000," Menin said, describing the revised legislation as a more targeted approach.

She said the changes had made some Council members and industry representatives who previously opposed COPA more comfortable with the measure.

Nurse, meanwhile, celebrated the end of a legislative fight that began six years ago and spanned three mayoral administrations.

"Today we are going to end the six-year saga of the Community Opportunity to Purchase Act here in the council," she said.

"The bill has been through the fire," Nurse added, recounting its repeated introductions, Adams' veto and what she described as an intense lobbying campaign by real estate interests to defeat it.

Nurse argued that preserving existing affordable apartments is one of the fastest ways to address the city's housing crisis, particularly when new housing developments can take years to complete.

"Buying and preserving some of the housing we already have is the most immediate way to stop displacement, and that's what COPA does," she said.

The newly approved legislation generally targets residential buildings with at least four apartments that meet specific criteria, including serious unresolved housing violations, extended participation in the city's Alternative Enforcement Program, certain tenant harassment findings, or qualifying affordability agreements overseen by the Department of Housing Preservation and Development.

The revised bill also excludes buildings covered solely by affordability restrictions imposed through the 421-a tax incentive program and limits eligibility based on HPD-managed affordability agreements to buildings with no more than 100 apartments. Owner-occupied properties with five or fewer apartments are also exempt.