TOPA Now to Strengthen Community
It was too late. By the time I went to see what the power tool making all that noise was doing, the bamboo privacy screen had been destroyed. I had no idea the property behind my neighbor’s house had been sold. That was by design.
Unlike San Francisco’s COPA (Community Opportunity to Purchase Act), Berkeley has no current mechanism to enable tenants, nonprofit organizations or community members — who want to prevent tenant displacement and promote the creation and preservation of affordable rental housing — to be informed when property owners want to sell . The 9 unit property behind my neighbor was sold off market, with no notice to the community.
As I walked home I knew a privacy screen could be recreated, yet, the sale of the property right under my nose troubled me. How could I not have known about this? How could I find out about off market sales in the future? I checked out the website of the real estate investment company that purchased the property and found it “…was established to focus on investing in the San Francisco Bay Area’s real estate markets with an aggressive goal of generating high returns.” That’s nothing new, but what if we could do something different, like Sogorea Te did in Oakland?
The Sogorea Te Land Trust is an urban Indigenous women-led community organization based in the East Bay that returns Indigenous land to Indigenous hands. This past August, they had an opportunity to purchase a house in Oakland. They had a 14-day timeline to raise the funds needed and raised well over the $750,000 threshold in less than 10 days! This is reparations in action. This is an act of healing and repenting for the horrors committed to the original dwellers of the land we now call home.
What if we could not only honor the first peoples of Berkeley, but also those who have been discriminated against through redlining and exclusionary zoning? What if wealthy liberals in Berkeley could really put their money and influence behind their anti-racist rhetoric?
It’s possible! One way is to enact TOPA, the Tenant Opportunity to Purchase Act. TOPA would give Berkeley tenants the first opportunity to buy the rental property they live in, when the owner decides to sell. TOPA will prevent displacement of low income communities of color and marginalized tenants as well as preserve and generate much needed permanently affordable housing. In May 2021, the Mayor and Council delayed TOPA to go into effect until July 2023. We can’t wait almost two more years and watch investors displace our most vulnerable community. Go to yes2topa.org to help get TOPA passed.
TOPA is one way to create stability and affordability. By employing this robust piece of legislation, we can help level the playing field and in doing so promote the type of diversity and equity that is consistent with Berkeley’s identity.
This article was first published in the Berkeley Times on September 23, 2001.
