"You'll own nothing, and you'll like it."
The Left has made it very clear that its goal is the total abolition of personal property and our individual freedoms. They say it's for "the greater good" of society, which is always when mankind faces its worst atrocities.
Now in New York, it seems the state is poised to make it legal to confiscate housing. For the "greater good," of course.
It’s actually happening
— Wall Street Apes (@WallStreetApes) December 29, 2025
New York passed The "COPA Act” and will force sales of certain personal properties to the government and NGOs
New York Councilwoman Vickie Paladino actually speaks out against it and confirms they will steal homes
“Absolutely ridiculous and shameful,… pic.twitter.com/SzlbuS1V1N
The Community Opportunity to Purchase Act (COPA) will allow a first look or "right to match" process for certain multifamily building sales, giving qualified nonprofit entities an early opportunity to buy before (or alongside) the open market. That's ripe for corruption and the government confiscation of properties to organizations it deems "qualified."
According to Planetizen, the law gives non-profits a "leg up" on property purchases so they can be "rehabilitated and preserved as affordable." It claims COPA applies to buildings with "poor conditions or where an affordability provision is expiring." The bill was first introduced in 2020, but the newer version "narrows the types of buildings that qualify" and makes exemptions for properties with fewer than four apartments.
Recommended
Of course, that's how such legislation always starts. But government is an ever-growing machine that must be fed. Today, it's this narrow set of buildings. Tomorrow it's any property for sale in NYC.
Councilwoman Vickie Paladino went off against the legislature over the act.
"In regard to what we're just talking about now, COPA, how wrong can a person be or a body of a government be when we start to take the individual rights away from the homeowner, whether it's a two-family house, three-family house, four-family house, what does it matter? The fact is the person owns the home, they have the right to sell the home to whomever they please," Paladino says.
"The idea that we have to consult with the building department and give a six-month period of time for someone else to make an offer is absolutely outrageous. And to say it's government overreach is 100% true. This is absolutely maniacal," she continues. “I do not understand how this body works when it comes to individual citizens of this city. This is overreach at its very best."
"I'm a homeowner, and no one is going to tell me or anybody else I know that's worked so damn hard to own a three or a four family home that I have to submit the ability to sell my house first to the building department and then offer it up to a non-for-profit when my neighbor across the street may want to buy it," Paladino says. "And they have to wait six months? Nonsense."
"This is absolutely ridiculous," Paladino continues.
As one New Yorker pointed out on X, "The problem with COPA isn’t that it will divert properties to government and non-profits — as bad as that part is — it’s that it introduces up to 3-6 months of mandated delays in building sales in NYC even when the private transaction does go through."
How does a three to six-month delay fix poor conditions at a property or address an expiring affordability agreement in a timely manner? Doesn't seem like such a wait would make things better for anyone involved, yet that's what the government does best: make things worse.
Today it's multi-family homes, tomorrow it's single-family homes. We all see the slippery slope, and Democrats in New York just voted to push their city down it.
Editor’s Note: Zohran Mamdani, an avowed Democratic Socialist, will be the next mayor of New York City.
Help us continue to report on his radical communist views and expose the Democrats who support him. Join Townhall VIP and use promo code MERRY74 to get 74% off your membership.
Join the conversation as a VIP Member