What is the Tenant Opportunity to Purchase Act (TOPA)?

The Tenant Opportunity to Purchase Act – or TOPA – is a proposed law that would grant existing tenants in unincorporated areas of LA County the first opportunity to buy the rental property they live in, only if and when the owner decides to sell. As potential buyers under TOPA, tenants will have the chance to make competitive, market-rate offers and potentially own their building by partnering with tenant associations or community land trusts for technical assistance with financing and the acquisition process. This policy aims to preserve naturally occurring affordable housing, reduce displacement, and create pathways for ownership for Black and Brown communities.

This policy does not require the owner to sell below market rate nor does it require the owner to sell to the tenants. TOPA only requires that existing tenants be given a chance to be considered as potential buyers and make a fair market offer.

With TOPA, we can…

• Prevent the displacement of low-income communities of color;
• Create permanently affordable housing;
• Create pathways for tenants to become owners;
• Reduce the burden of rent and stabilize housing for existing tenants;
• Give tenants choice and decision-making power regarding housing;
• Protect housing from speculative investment by keeping them in
  democratic residential control.

Learn More about TOP4ALA

A $14 million pilot, initiated at the height of the pandemic in partnership with the Los Angeles County Development Authority and mission-aligned CDCs, showcases the power of community ownership strategies. Through the Los Angeles County Community Land Trust Partnership Program, LA County Supervisors have championed the CLT model to address long-term housing affordability challenges and systemic racial inequities for immigrant, working-class, communities of color. By acquiring eight occupied apartment buildings between April 2021 and March 2022, the Coalition safeguarded 43 households from displacement, revitalized housing conditions, and permanently preserved these properties as community assets—breaking the cycle of speculative real estate.

Measure ULA, also known as the United to House LA initiative, or “Mansion Tax,” established a real estate transfer tax on properties that sell for over $5M as a permanent funding source for affordable housing and to stabilize tenants in their homes. Playing an active role in the United to House LA community-labor coalition that created ULA, LA CLTs led development of ULA’s Acquisition and Rehabilitation program, as well as fueling bold plans for resident-governed social housing through Alternative Models for Permanent Affordable Housing, and Capacity-Building for Tenant Ownership. Together, the three programs that will together receive over 1/3 of program revenue generated by the measure

The LA County Affordable Housing Solutions Agency aims to take a regional approach to create more affordable housing, set up the infrastructure for preserving the affordable housing,  as well as providing protection for tenants. The goal is to incorporate preservation policies/programs influenced by the preservation ecosystem.