Los Angeles County is a majority-renter metropolitan area with 55% of its residents renting —in Los Angeles City, it’s about 2/3 of the population. The housing stock is mostly owned by corporate landlords and Wall St. investors who, more interested in profits than people, have raised rent on us and displaced our neighbors .

Los Angeles County is now the third most rent-burdened metropolitan area in the nation — 1 in 4 renters (25%) are moderately rent-burdened paying over 30% of their household income to rent, and a staggering 3 in 10 renters (31%) are severely rent-burdened paying over half of their household income for rent. In the City of Los Angeles, where about 2/3rds of the population rents, 1 in 4 renters (25%) are moderately rent-burdened and nearly half of all renters (48%) were severely rent-burdened. Our neighbors have had to cut back on food, transportation, and other expenses for housing; those who couldn’t keep up with rent were forced out of their communities; fewer and fewer Angelenos are able to become homeowners— the most reliable way of building generational wealth — and fall back into the cycle of poverty.

It doesn’t have to be like this. We at the Los Angeles Community Land Trust Coalition believe that there is a better way forward. We are advocating for the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors to adopt the Tenant Opportunity to Purchase Act (TOPA) which would create new rights for tenants that would give them the first opportunity to buy the building they live in if and when the building owner decides to sell. TOPA would help us

• 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.

We believe that TOPA is strong, proven strategy that will help us decommodify housing, convert tenants into owners, and wrestle back power from corporate interests back into our neighborhoods.