On February 20, after years of work by EBCLC, our partners at community land trusts and community organizations, and Berkeley government, Mayor Jesse Arreguín introduced the Tenant Opportunity to Purchase Act (TOPA), a groundbreaking affordable housing policy that prevents displacement by empowering tenants with choices when their owner decides to sell. TOPA provides assistance for tenants to purchase their homes or assign their TOPA rights to vetted, qualified organizations and remain renting at an affordable rate. Our Berkeley TOPA policy will build off of the success of Washington DC’s TOPA, which preserved over 3,500 homes from 2002-2018. As the housing crisis increases, impacting families of color most acutely, our community is losing long-time residents and our remaining diversity. But TOPA is a piece of turning that tide.
Want more information on what TOPA will do for Berkeley? Visit https://yes2topa.org/berkeley-topa for more info.
We can’t do this without you. Raise your voice for TOPA today! We’ve made it easy to email to express your support to the Berkeley City Council, especially Councilmember Lori Droste (District 8), Councilmember Ben Bartlett (District 3), and Councilmember Kate Harrison (District 4).
Recent News Coverage of TOPA in Berkeley: