East Bay Cohousing

The City of Emeryville, tucked in between Berkeley and Oakland on the Eastern shore of the San Francisco Bay Area, is the home to the Bay Area’s first cohousing neighborhood, as well as a cohousing-ish Artists’ Coop that predates the concept. Here’s where you can register your interest and learn about opportunities.

For years, EBCOHO members have asked us how they can buy property and create affordable cohousing and cooperative communities here in Berkeley and Oakland.

Well, the time has come --- both cities are considering a new Tenant Opportunity to Purchase Act (TOPA) which will make that more possible than any time in the last 25 years!   TOPA means tenants will get notice from landlords before their building goes on the market, and can band together to make an offer, or designate a community partner to negotiate on their behalf -- and then be eligible for public funds. 

Berkeley, like the rest of the Bay Area, faces a housing crisis, one driven by rising rental prices and a hot housing market. With 75% of the city’s low-income census tracts at risk of or undergoing displacement and a continued loss of thousands of Black households, Berkeley desperately needs anti-displacement strategies that prioritize low income renters and communities of color. One of those strategies is the Tenant Opportunity to Purchase Act (TOPA).

TOPA prevents displacement by empowering tenants with choices for their future housing when the owner of a rental property decides to sell (learn how it works here!). In Washington, DC, TOPA has helped preserve over 3500 units of affordable housing since 2002, and those numbers continue to grow. 

Berkeley’s TOPA policy is designed to:

• Prevent displacement of low-income communities of color and marginalized tenants

• Create permanently affordable housing

• Create pathways to ownership for tenants and promote democratic residential control

• Stabilize housing for existing tenants

• Give tenants choice and voice regarding their housing

• Protect rental housing from speculative investment by keeping them in the community

Now is the time for Berkeley to pass a TOPA policy that helps meet Berkeley’s housing crisis and needs. 

We can’t do this without you. Raise your voice for TOPA today!

Sign below by Wednesday night and we’ll include your digital signature in our attendance at a council committee meeting discussing TOPA this Thursday. Not sure yet? Want to help recruit others? Join our Zoom call Wednesday at 5:30 PM.