TOPA at Berkeley’s Land Use Committee: Please comment at open forum.

When: Th (5/6) at 10:30 am

Zoom: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86006545447

The Oakland and Berkeley City Councils are currently considering a radical ordinance called TOPA (Tenant’s Opportunity to Purchase Act). It’s being sold as a way to prevent displacement and promote ownership opportunities for tenants; but in reality the ordinance will not create opportunity for any of our residents. It uses our underprivileged as a front to grant government the power to dictate how properties are sold, to whom they can be sold, and even how much they can be sold for. The text of the ordinance is being withheld in Oakland from the public by its authors, yet all indications point to the legislation being similar, if not identical to, the defeated Richmond TOPA ordinance after overwhelming non-partisan opposition. You can also read the Berkeley TOPA proposal here.

So who looks to benefit from this ordinance? If you read the fine print, it’s the special interests groups. “Non-profit” third parties that can have the tenant’s rights transferred to them, leverage them against the owner, then later claim a potential exemption from all the "permanent affordability regulations", property taxes or normal rent control limits.

Everyone who cares about our city should be against it.

Key issues of the ordinance are listed below:

Gives tenants Right of First Refusal (ROFR) to purchase property before any rental property may be sold in an open, free market.

• TOPA can delay transaction time up to a year or more.

• Drastically devalues properties and harms home equity.

• Reduces housing stock which will drive up rents and harm renters.

• Prevents a property from going on the free market for sale until every renter waives his or her rights in writing, and creates lengthy, unpredictable time periods in which a sale, or lack thereof can be delayed indefinitely.

• Allows qualified tenants to transfer these rights to a third party "non-profit" organization for each potential sale of property.

• Gives special interest developers first dibs on properties and prevent black owners from keeping properties in black hands.

• TOPA takes away the ability for owners to have a say in who they leave their own homes to such as to friends at a reduced price or to relatives like nephews and nieces.

• Any owner who is found in violation of the regulatory process could be fined $1000/per day per unit.

• TOPA is extremely convoluted, bureaucratic and expensive to administer. In Berkeley, it will cost $10-15 million each and every year going forward which is not a responsible use of public funds. The pandemic budget deficit is already causing cities to cut critical city services and lay off dedicated city staff.

• After 40 years of experience with TOPA, Washington DC is defunding it in favor of effective affordable housing programs such as rental assistance for low income renters, downpayment assistance to promote home ownership, and shelters to help homeless residents. TOPA strips money away from these affordable housing programs.

This ordinance is not a progressive way to promote ownership opportunities for existing tenants, it's a blatant attempt to seize private property through a coercive set of regulations. We can not let this action by the city council fly under the radar, that is why it's imperative we contact each of the Oakland city council members, speak at public forum, and sign the petition to express our opposition to this proposal, and demand alternative methods to be developed amongst all stakeholders.