The City of Vancouver has announced plans to tax vacant homes “with or without” support from the B.C. government.
With the rental vacancy rate at an all-time low of 0.6 per cent, Mayor Gregor Robertson said action needs to be taken to pressure speculators into opening up their homes to renters.
“Rental housing is almost impossible to find in Vancouver right now,” Robertson said at a press conference Wednesday in Coal Harbour, where a 2013 study found an estimated 22 per cent of homes were unoccupied.
“We know that during this affordability crunch there are over 10,000 empty homes year-round in the City of Vancouver. Those empty homes would add a badly needed supply to our rental housing stock.”
Robertson urged Premier Christy Clark to implement an empty home tax last year, but said the city has found a workaround to tax homes without the province’s support.
“The city will take action on taxing empty homes with or without the help of the B.C. government,” he said.
A provincial tax is still the best option, he added. Vancouver is once again asking B.C. to introduce a “residential vacant” property class that would allow the government to tax empty properties using data already collected by the province.
But if the city has to go it alone, Robertson said it can still establish a new business tax on empty homes being held as investment properties.
Robertson said if the province refuses, Vancouver will implement its own tax by August.
"If a home is basically being held as a business, as an investment, and it's empty 12 months a year, that's certainly where we want to intervene and take action," Robertson said.
“Housing is first and foremost about homes, it’s not just a commodity to make money with.”
It's not yet clear what the rate for taxing empty homes will be, but Robertson says it has to be significant enough to encourage change of use.
City staff say that if 20 per cent of empty home could be converted into rental, that would bring the vacancy rate to a “healthy” three per cent.
