50+ Organizations Call for Passage of Tenant Opportunity to Purchase Act

Dear Governor Hochul, Senate Majority Leader Stewart-Cousins, and Assembly Speaker Heastie:  

The undersigned organizations call on you to commit $250 Million in FY23 for the Tenant Opportunity to Purchase (TOPA) Act in New York State (Myrie S.221/Mitaynes A.3353).

TOPA would give tenants the right of first offer and right of first refusal when their building goes up for sale. Under TOPA, tenants could buy the building together and turn it into a limited equity cooperative, or work with a nonprofit or community land trust to convert it into a permanently affordable rental. If passed and funded, this bill could result in the creation of over 20,000 social housing units across the state over the next five years.

While landlords don’t have to prioritize tenant purchase offers today, New York has a number of success stories of tenants buying their buildings and operating them as permanently affordable housing. Without TOPA, landlords have every incentive to sell their building to corporate landlords, resulting in skyrocketing rents, increasing eviction rates, and housing market consolidation. 

We have seen many successful TOPA conversions in Washington DC, which has had the law on the books for over forty years. Cities like San Francisco have more recently passed similar bills. The laws give residents more control over where they live, create a pathway for social housing expansion, and help slow gentrification.  

As Senator Myrie’s office aptly stated, “We’re facing a housing crisis and a historic exodus of Black people from Brooklyn — TOPA would go a long way toward reversing those trends.” 

Signed, 

Anti Displacement NYC

Association for Neighborhood and Housing Development (ANHD)

Bailey’s Cafe

Brooklyn Cooperative Federal Credit Union

Brownsville Partnership

Caribbean Equality Project

Carroll Gardens Association

Catholic Migration Services (CMS)

Center for NYC Neighborhoods

Chhaya Community Development Corporation

Churches United For Fair Housing

City Roots Community Land Trust

Citywide Tenant Union of Rochester

Community Allies

Community Service Society of New York

Cooper Square Community Land Trust

Cooper Square Committee 

CWTU

East New York Community Land Trust

El Puente de Williamsburg

Equality for Flatbush (E4F)

For the Many

FWD Landscape

Genesee Co-op Federal Credit Union

Goddard Riverside

Grow Brownsville

Hester Street

HOPE

Housing Rights Initiative

Neighbors Together

New Economy Project

New York City Community Land Initiative (NYCCLI)

New York City Network of Worker Cooperatives

North Star Fund

NOT ONE MORE BLOCK

NWBCCC – Northwest Bronx Community and Clergy Coalition

NYC YOUTH SPORTS PODCAST SHOW INC.

Open New York

Picture the Homeless

Pratt Center for Community Development

RENA (Riverside -Edgecombe Neighborhood Association)

TakeRoot Justice 

Theatre of the Oppressed NYC

This Land Is Ours CLT

TIMBER

Tulinde, LLC

UHAB

United Neighbors Organization (UNO)

United Tenants of Albany

Universe City NYC

Unlock NYC

Urban Justice Center – Safety Net Project

Village Preservation

We Stay/Nos Quedamos

Western Queens CLT

Zara Tenant Coalition (ZTC)

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