Berkeley City Council Special Meeting on COPA/TOPA - September 30, 2024

The Berkeley City Council held a special meeting on Monday, September 30, 2024, beginning at 6:00 PM, to consider a single agenda item: the adoption of Berkeley Municipal Code Chapter 13.89, the Community/Tenant Opportunity to Purchase Act (COPA/TOPA), introduced by former Councilmember Kate Harrison. The meeting was conducted in a hybrid format, with Councilmember Terry Taplin participating remotely under AB 2449 due to just cause. Mayor Jesse Arreguin arrived after a brief recess. The Council heard extensive public comment, deliberated on two motions, and ultimately voted to refer a COPA-based program for study rather than adopting the proposed ordinance.

Public Comments & Testimony

• Supporters (approximately 30 speakers): Tenants, affordable housing advocates, nonprofit representatives (e.g., East Bay Community Law Center, Bay Area Community Land Trust, Berkeley Student Cooperative), and labor union members (SEIU 1021) urged adoption of TOPA, citing tenant displacement, the need to preserve naturally occurring affordable housing, and successful models in Washington, D.C., and San Francisco. Many shared personal stories of eviction threats or building sales. Several speakers supported Councilmember Lunapara's supplemental for further administrative review.
• Opponents (approximately 15 speakers): Small property owners, real estate brokers, and representatives of the East Bay Rental Housing Association and Berkeley Property Owners Association opposed TOPA, arguing it would burden small landlords, create administrative complexity, delay sales, discourage investment, and not create new housing. They noted that Berkeley already has strong tenant protections (just cause eviction, demolition ordinance) and a small sites program. Some called for an equity study before implementation.

Discussion Items

• Councilmember Cecilia Lunapara and Councilmember Igor Tregub presented a substitute motion to refer the current Harrison item to the city manager for analysis of fiscal, operational, and administrative impacts, including the San Francisco COPA program and other comparable tenant acquisition models. The motion also included a $100,000 budget referral for the study. The motion failed on a vote of 3–6 (yes: Bartlett, Tregub, Lunapara; no: Kesarwani, Taplin, Hahn, Wengraf, Humbert, Mayor).
• Councilmember Sophie Hahn presented a main motion to refer to the city manager a study of a program based on San Francisco's COPA, with additional concepts: a potential requirement for nonprofits to offer co-op conversion within a set number of years, a building size threshold, administrative costs and funding sources, notice and right of first refusal for tenants, and a review of other jurisdictions' tenant acquisition programs. The motion also included a $100,000 budget referral. The motion passed 6–3 (yes: Taplin, Bartlett, Tregub, Hahn, Lunapara, Mayor; no: Kesarwani, Wengraf, Humbert).
• Councilmembers expressed concerns about the Harrison ordinance's complexity, staff capacity (only one housing policy staff member available), and lack of dedicated funding. The mayor noted that the Harrison ordinance was not right-sized for Berkeley and supported the COPA approach as a more feasible first step.

Key Outcomes

• The Council defeated the substitute motion to refer the Harrison ordinance for analysis (3–6).
• The Council approved the main motion (Hahn) to study a COPA-based program, including a $100,000 budget referral, with a 6–3 vote.
• The referral will examine San Francisco's COPA model, potential co-op conversion requirements, appropriate building size thresholds, administrative costs, funding sources, tenant notice/right of first refusal, and comparable programs in other jurisdictions.
• The item will be processed through the City Council's regular referral and review process (RRV). No ordinance was adopted at this meeting.