Community-owned homes: How COPA/TOPA counters housing corporatization – Recording

Private equity and venture capital-backed companies are buying up homes at a mass scale and renting them out to the very people whom they have priced out of the market. Tech is enabling this emerging class of corporate landlords, allowing them to rapidly scale by automating property management, home flipping, rent setting, and other key aspects of the housing market. So how do we counter this tech-driven financialization of the housing market?

We need policies that will reclaim housing and take it out of the investment game. One such policy has been gaining traction in cities across the Bay Area and across the country: COPA/TOPA, or Community/Tenant Opportunity to Purchase Acts. If passed, these policies could move housing out of the hands of corporations and investors and into the hands of tenants and community members—permanently.

On Thursday, January 19th, 12-1pm PT we learned from residents, housing advocates, and experts on how COPA/TOPA can change the tide against the corporatization of housing.

The webinar was co-hosted by TechEquity Collaborative and SOMOS Mayfair and was moderated by Marion Wellington, Director of Content of TechEquity. Panelists included:

• Andrea Portillo, Director of Organizing & Policy at SOMOS Mayfair
• Tania Jackson, Chief of Staff to DC Councilmember Brianne K. Nadeau
• Richard Hurlburt, Broker/Attorney at IMPACT Social Justice Real Estate

This webinar was hosted on Zoom.