WHAT IS THE PROBLEM?
For far too long in New York City, the opaque co-op approval process has denied qualified applicants’ homeownership opportunities. Co-op boards can reject applicants without an explanation. This lack of transparency makes it nearly impossible to know whether a rejection was legitimate or the result of unlawful discrimination.
Intro 0774-2026 Fair Residential Cooperative Disclosure Law would change that. The bill requires co-op boards to give rejected applicants a written explanation of their decision within five days, ending the secrecy that currently surrounds co-op denials. When boards rely on vague, subjective standards like “character” or “fit,” they leave the door open for cultural, racial, and gender bias to shape who gets to buy a home in this city. NYC has fair housing laws in place to protect everyone from this kind of discrimination, yet co-op boards are exempt as they are not required to provide a reason. With more than 7,000 co-op buildings and roughly 300,000 units citywide (more than any other municipality in the country) this loophole affects an enormous share of NYC’s housing market.
WHY THIS MATTERS
Expanding affordable homeownership: Co-ops remain one of the most accessible paths to homeownership in a city where the ownership rate lags far behind the national average (30% vs. 66%). Ensuring applicants aren’t illegally turned away helps more New Yorkers build long-term financial stability.
Closing the racial wealth gap: Homeownership is one of the most powerful tools for building generational wealth, yet only 33% of Black families and 20% of Hispanic/Latinx families in NYC own their homes, compared to 47% of white families. Transparency in the co-op process is a concrete step toward accountability and equity.
Protecting LGBTQ+ applicants: NYC has some of the strongest gender and sexual orientation protections in the country — but without documentation of why an applicant was rejected, those protections are nearly impossible to enforce in the co-op context.
Closing a Fair Housing loophole: The Fair Housing Act, NY State Human Rights Law, and NYC Human Rights Law all prohibit housing discrimination but without disclosure, these laws can’t be meaningfully enforced.
TAKE ACTION
Fair Housing Justice Center urges the City Council to pass Intro 0774 and bring long-overdue transparency and accountability to NYC’s co-op market. Every New Yorker deserves a fair shot at homeownership – and the right to know why the door was closed.