Our Executive Director, Fernando Lemos, and ChelseaDee Harrison, board secretary of the 11 Nicholson St Co-op, spoke on a panel alongside the Latino Economic Development Center (LEDC) and the National Housing Trust about TOPA as a tool for racial equity, anti-displacement, and strong communities at the Coalition for Nonprofits and Economic Development (CNHED) Equitable Communities Conference this week.

Panelists discussed TOPA’s impact on residents like ChelseaDee, who is a native Washingtonian and artivist in the area. As she explained, exercising her TOPA rights gave her a chance to stay in the city and contribute to the creative economy of the city through the art she creates which is inspired by her home, legacy, and ancestry.

Fernando also spoke to the importance of fully leveraging TOPA as an antiracist tool saying, “TOPA gives power to the Latino community, the African American community and other communities to control their lives and control their area…to have a voice in their community.”

This panel discussion came at a critical moment when funding for TOPA projects is limited and when TOPA is at risk as policy makers create exemptions to TOPA rights in downtown DC.

Some aspirations for the future of TOPA include:

• Create a dependable funding path for co-ops to form under TOPA that includes funding for acquisition, renovation, and permanent financing
• Increase support for community based tenant organizers and technical assistance providers to increase opportunities for limited equity cooperative formation under TOPA
• Enact laws to counteract the actions of people who seek to profit by convincing tenants to give up their TOPA rights
• Provide mental health support for the residents who choose to exercise their TOPA rights
• Strategic coordination between community based organizations, District government, and tenant groups on opportunities, timing, and financing.

To watch some highlights from this Tuesday’s panel, visit us on social media. We are grateful to CNHED for hosting such a transformative conference and for inviting us to be a part of the conversation around how we can use TOPA to make our communities stronger!