How is TOPA a tool for racial equity in Oakland?
Generations of discriminatory policies like redlining and predatory lending have created lower levels of housing stability for Oakland residents of color than for white residents. Only 34% of Oakland residents of color own their homes compared to 53% of white residents. Renters of color have fewer opportunities to transition to homeownership, higher rent burdens, and a greater risk of homelessness and/or displacement. These disparities and the housing affordability crisis are intensified by real estate speculators, who purchase tenant-occupied homes with the intention of forcing out existing tenants so they can flip the property for profit or rent the building out at higher rates.
TOPA is a tool to curb speculation, slow down the gentrification of our city, and expand access to stable housing for Oakland renters, the majority of whom are people of color. As a strategy for housing justice, preserving homes through TOPA is faster and more affordable than building new affordable housing. It also allows renters to stay in their homes and in their communities.
How has TOPA supported racial equity in other cities?
In Washington DC, TOPA has helped preserve 4,400 units of affordable housing. Thousands of tenants have used TOPA to form limited equity housing cooperatives (LEHCs) in which each household owns a share in the building. The majority of LEHCs were created under TOPA and primarily house people below 80 percent of the Area Median Income. The median share of cooperative residents who are people of color is 75%.
What are the impacts of TOPA on intergenerational wealth-building for tenants of color?
TOPA supports individual, familial, and community wealth-building by providing families stable rents and opportunities to build wealth through ownership. 55% of renters of color in Oakland are spending more than they can afford on rent, partly because landlords are able to extract higher and higher profits on their investments as landowners.
If tenants are willing and interested in purchasing their building, then they are acquiring a stabilizing asset that can be passed on to future generations. Tenants who exercise their TOPA rights must opt into limitations on the resale value of their property, and tenants who are interested in ownership without resale restrictions can pursue existing options as they would without TOPA. However, as we’ve seen in DC, we anticipate that the vast majority of renters who choose to exercise their TOPA rights will either be renters who would otherwise be excluded from traditional homeownership or tenants whose values align with the long-term goals of removing properties from the speculative market to create more equitable futures for people of color in the Bay Area.
If tenants are not interested in owning their building, TOPA can still help build intergenerational wealth by putting properties into community and nonprofit ownership and removing speculation and profit-seeking from the equation. In this situation, tenants would be able to stay tenants but be guaranteed stable rents, allowing them to save money over time.
TOPA supports individual, familial, and community wealth-building. 55% of renters of color in Oakland are spending more than they can afford on rent. This wealth is being extracted from working-class families and our communities. By stabilizing long-term, committed residents, TOPA in turn enriches and stabilizes our diverse and vibrant neighborhoods.
How will TOPA impact property owners of color?
Many landlords of color rent within their communities and have long-term close relationships with their tenants. They worry about their tenant’s ability to stay in their homes if they need to sell. TOPA allows landlords to positively impact the long-term housing stability of their tenants by making it more possible for them to sell to their tenants, even those who might otherwise never have been in a position financially to make an offer on their homes. It also gives them increased opportunities to work with qualified community organizations, so that they can have a role in stopping displacement in their neighborhoods.
TOPA also allows landlords to sell or transfer properties between immediate family members, including spouses, domestic partners, parent and child, siblings, grandparents, and grandchildren.
TOPA may minimally extend the timeline for property sales, but TOPA does not impact the sale price or the ability of property owners to receive the market value for their properties. If the seller has a buyer willing to pay a higher price than the initial bid made by a tenant or qualified organization (QO), they need only offer their tenants or the QO the opportunity to match that price. If the tenants or QO decline, they are free to move ahead with the higher offer.
If you have more questions about TOPA and landlords, read our landlord FAQ here.
How does TOPA impact the rights of tenants of color whose homes are purchased under TOPA?
If a tenant chooses to stay a tenant in a building that is purchased by an organization or by an association of other tenants in the building through TOPA, they will retain all their previous rights as tenants, including rent control and eviction protections, if applicable. Tenants whose buildings are purchased by a qualified organization will have more protections than those whose homes are owned by a landlord because QOs will have to recertify with the city every 3 years, while landlords do not.
How could TOPA be paired with other policies for an even greater social justice impact in the future?
Our current housing crisis is caused by speculation and the financialization of the housing market. TOPA is just one of many policies that take housing off of the speculative market — its primary purpose is to provide people with a home, not an asset. Currently, TOPA does not have dedicated financing, so organizing for funding and policies that would help residents, community land trusts, and other qualified organizations access the money they need to buy properties under TOPA will make TOPA an even more effective tool for advancing social justice. Other acquisition and rehabilitation policies could work in tandem with TOPA to take housing off of the speculative market. Finally, a [real] social housing policy would allow for the construction and acquisition of permanently affordable homes.
Generations of discriminatory policies like redlining and predatory lending have created lower levels of housing stability for Oakland residents of color than for white residents. Only 34% of Oakland residents of color own their homes compared to 53% of white residents. Renters of color have fewer opportunities to transition to homeownership, higher rent burdens, and a greater risk of homelessness and/or displacement. These disparities and the housing affordability crisis are intensified by real estate speculators, who purchase tenant-occupied homes with the intention of forcing out existing tenants so they can flip the property for profit or rent the building out at higher rates.
TOPA is a tool to curb speculation, slow down the gentrification of our city, and expand access to stable housing for Oakland renters, the majority of whom are people of color. As a strategy for housing justice, preserving homes through TOPA is faster and more affordable than building new affordable housing. It also allows renters to stay in their homes and in their communities.
How has TOPA supported racial equity in other cities?
In Washington DC, TOPA has helped preserve 4,400 units of affordable housing. Thousands of tenants have used TOPA to form limited equity housing cooperatives (LEHCs) in which each household owns a share in the building. The majority of LEHCs were created under TOPA and primarily house people below 80 percent of the Area Median Income. The median share of cooperative residents who are people of color is 75%.
What are the impacts of TOPA on intergenerational wealth-building for tenants of color?
TOPA supports individual, familial, and community wealth-building by providing families stable rents and opportunities to build wealth through ownership. 55% of renters of color in Oakland are spending more than they can afford on rent, partly because landlords are able to extract higher and higher profits on their investments as landowners.
If tenants are willing and interested in purchasing their building, then they are acquiring a stabilizing asset that can be passed on to future generations. Tenants who exercise their TOPA rights must opt into limitations on the resale value of their property, and tenants who are interested in ownership without resale restrictions can pursue existing options as they would without TOPA. However, as we’ve seen in DC, we anticipate that the vast majority of renters who choose to exercise their TOPA rights will either be renters who would otherwise be excluded from traditional homeownership or tenants whose values align with the long-term goals of removing properties from the speculative market to create more equitable futures for people of color in the Bay Area.
If tenants are not interested in owning their building, TOPA can still help build intergenerational wealth by putting properties into community and nonprofit ownership and removing speculation and profit-seeking from the equation. In this situation, tenants would be able to stay tenants but be guaranteed stable rents, allowing them to save money over time.
TOPA supports individual, familial, and community wealth-building. 55% of renters of color in Oakland are spending more than they can afford on rent. This wealth is being extracted from working-class families and our communities. By stabilizing long-term, committed residents, TOPA in turn enriches and stabilizes our diverse and vibrant neighborhoods.
How will TOPA impact property owners of color?
Many landlords of color rent within their communities and have long-term close relationships with their tenants. They worry about their tenant’s ability to stay in their homes if they need to sell. TOPA allows landlords to positively impact the long-term housing stability of their tenants by making it more possible for them to sell to their tenants, even those who might otherwise never have been in a position financially to make an offer on their homes. It also gives them increased opportunities to work with qualified community organizations, so that they can have a role in stopping displacement in their neighborhoods.
TOPA also allows landlords to sell or transfer properties between immediate family members, including spouses, domestic partners, parent and child, siblings, grandparents, and grandchildren.
TOPA may minimally extend the timeline for property sales, but TOPA does not impact the sale price or the ability of property owners to receive the market value for their properties. If the seller has a buyer willing to pay a higher price than the initial bid made by a tenant or qualified organization (QO), they need only offer their tenants or the QO the opportunity to match that price. If the tenants or QO decline, they are free to move ahead with the higher offer.
If you have more questions about TOPA and landlords, read our landlord FAQ here.
How does TOPA impact the rights of tenants of color whose homes are purchased under TOPA?
If a tenant chooses to stay a tenant in a building that is purchased by an organization or by an association of other tenants in the building through TOPA, they will retain all their previous rights as tenants, including rent control and eviction protections, if applicable. Tenants whose buildings are purchased by a qualified organization will have more protections than those whose homes are owned by a landlord because QOs will have to recertify with the city every 3 years, while landlords do not.
How could TOPA be paired with other policies for an even greater social justice impact in the future?
Our current housing crisis is caused by speculation and the financialization of the housing market. TOPA is just one of many policies that take housing off of the speculative market — its primary purpose is to provide people with a home, not an asset. Currently, TOPA does not have dedicated financing, so organizing for funding and policies that would help residents, community land trusts, and other qualified organizations access the money they need to buy properties under TOPA will make TOPA an even more effective tool for advancing social justice. Other acquisition and rehabilitation policies could work in tandem with TOPA to take housing off of the speculative market. Finally, a [real] social housing policy would allow for the construction and acquisition of permanently affordable homes.
