The Los Angeles City Council unanimously approved a motion Friday to create a policy that would give tenants the option to purchase their buildings, helping to maintain affordable rents.
In the next 60 days, related departments will report on a framework for what are known as Tenant Opportunity to Purchase Act and a Community Opportunity to Purchase Act policies.
The City Council voted 12-0 Friday to approve the motion. Councilmembers Curren Price and Paul Krekorian recused themselves as they are landlords, while Councilman Kevin de León was absent during the vote.
According to Councilmember Nithya Raman, who championed the motion, seconded by Councilmember Hugo Soto-Martinez, the policy would help preserve the city’s affordable housing stock, much of which is at-risk of due to expiring covenants and market pressures.
She noted that almost 6,000 units’ covenants are set to expire by Dec. 31, 2027.
“These policies allow for either tenants of multi-family buildings the option to collectively purchase their buildings or allow a qualified nonprofit to make an offer to purchase a building if the property owner decides to sell,” Raman said.
If the city were to adopt these policies, Los Angeles would join Washington D.C., San Francisco, Chicago and Philadelphia, where similar programs are available. Raman said the city could potentially use funds from Measure ULA to support these initiatives.
The motion also highlighted efforts between the county of LA and the Los Angeles Community Land Trust Coalition to pilot a community land trust program and to research these initiatives.
The county’s pilot program assisted and stabilized 110 tenants in their homes and neighborhoods, establishing “affordability in perpetuity,” the motion reads.
“These are policies that can potentially preserve housing and prevent displacement,” Raman said. “With dedicated funding from Measure ULA, now we do have to develop the city’s capacity to be able to manage these kinds of projects.”
The National Apartment Association previously argued that such policies add unnecessary red tape to real estate transactions and ultimately increase the cost of housing for renters.
While these laws are intended to be an “anti-displacement measure, in reality, they rarely result in residents’ purchase of property and can add months or in some cases, years to the sale of real estate,” Emma Craig wrote in a May 22 post on the association’s website.
