Matt Robinson
The Province
Vancouver has become the first city in Canada to implement a tax on empty homes.
Based on the diverse opinions city councillors heard Wednesday before voting in favour of the one-per-cent annual tax, it’s not universally popular.
Paula Chu, a 50-year-old Bellingham, Wash., resident, said she had rented out her one-bedroom condo in Coal Harbour for 11 1/2 years. She most recently charged about $1,450 a month, an amount she said wasn’t sufficient to cover strata and property-management fees, extra insurance, repairs and her mortgage.
While her apartment is now empty, she said she intends to use it as much as 50 per cent of the year.
Chu said the city should rely on incentives, not taxes, to fill homes like hers, because in her experience it doesn’t pay to rent it out.
Daniel Oleksiuk, a 32-year-old Vancouver resident, said booming housing costs have led to rising wealth inequality, anger and resentment, and a situation where “young people are basically hopeless about their futures in this city.”
He was in favour of using a tax to boost the city’s rental stock.
When asked by Coun. Melissa De Genova if he supported incentives rather than taxation, Oleksiuk said he would be reluctant to give more money to the winners of Vancouver’s “land lottery.”
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