Park Slope tenants rally to keep building permanently affordable
Organizers tell News 12 they think the passing of the Tenant Opportunity to Purchase Act (TOPA) and Community Opportunity to Purchase Act (COPA) would help keep their building rent permanently affordable.
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Tenants of a building on Prospect Avenue along with local officials rallied outside of their building today, calling on the city and state to pass two acts they feel would help keep their homes affordable.
Organizers tell News 12 they think the passing of the Tenant Opportunity to Purchase Act (TOPA) and Community Opportunity to Purchase Act (COPA) would help keep their building rent permanently affordable.
Officials say if passed, they would give tenants the first opportunity to purchase their rental buildings when they're up for sale. They claim it would help tenants keep housing affordable to avoid gentrification.
The rally comes after the building's rent was recently destabilized.
Tenants like Jeffrey Cadavid say he feels the acts would help keep communities together in Brooklyn.
“We got to build community. New York is about community. It’s not transient. It’s not a hotel room. We need to make sure that while they commoditize buildings, they stop commoditizing homes. Because this is where we live and I don’t want to go anywhere," said Cadavid.
The TOPA bill is in the Assembly’s Housing Committee.
