Opportunity to purchase playbook
July 2021
We have reached a critical point in the housing crisis in California. One vital solution to strengthen our communities and protect tenants from losing their homes is the Opportunity to Purchase Act (OPA, also known as TOPA or COPA for Tenant and Community, respectively) being proposed in cities and counties across the state. OPA policies aim to:
- preserve current affordable housing while expanding ownership opportunities for low and moderate income tenants
- stabilize existing residents and communities
- expand choice within a city’s stock of permanently affordable housing
- give tenants and/or non-profit developers an equal opportunity to compete in the market
- remove units from the speculative market
This playbook provides the essential building blocks to help you run a successful OPA campaign. It emerged from discussions with organizers running campaigns across California who wanted to equip groups working on new and emerging campaigns with a resource that reflects the collective wisdom surfacing through their experiences. A gift to future campaigns, it offers the tools and resources for base building, working with elected officials, developing the policy, crafting messaging and confronting opposition.
