January 5, 2026

New York City (“NYC”)’s end-of-year housing legislative package advances several measures that impose new operational, transactional, and financing requirements on housing providers, while prompting debate over cost and housing supply. One measure, commonly referred to as the “Mandatory Air Conditioner Bill” (the “AC Bill”), as amended, requires housing providers, by June 1, 2030, to install cooling systems capable of maintaining indoor temperatures at or below 78 degrees Fahrenheit in bedrooms or other regularly occupied sleeping spaces during the summer cooling season, but only after a tenant affirmatively opts in. The AC Bill also addresses rent-regulated housing by requiring tenant consent for any Individual Apartment Improvement increase associated with appliance and installation costs. Together with companion housing and labor measures, these bills reflect the City Council’s effort to embed habitability and affordability standards directly into housing regulation and public finance.

The “Community Opportunity to Purchase Act” (“COPA”), narrowed from earlier versions, applies only to certain distressed buildings and grants qualifying nonprofit organizations limited windows to submit interest and first offers before a sale proceeds on the open market. The Department of Housing Preservation and Development projected that complying with these measures would require an additional $600 million per year to keep housing production and preservation at current levels, and that without that funding the City would finance approximately 3,275 fewer housing units annually, a projection City Council leadership acknowledged while still voting to advance the legislation.

As these measures move from legislation to implementation, their overall effect will turn on agency guidance, available funding, and whether NYC sustains housing production while enforcing new mandates.