Better Dwelling | DECEMBER 5, 2020 |
Toronto may finally start taxing vacant homes. City of Toronto staff recommended a vacant home tax to council this week. The tax would place a penalty on those that use residential property in the City for less than half the year. By doing so, the City hopes to join other major cities like Paris in curbing housing speculation. This comes after Toronto has been bleeding millennials for years, as housing affordability reaches crisis levels.
Toronto’s Vacant Home Problem Is Forcing Millennials Out
Toronto is becoming a place to park money in real estate, as young adults abandon the City. We pointed out in 2017, much to denial of the City, that tens of thousands of homes were vacant or scarcely used. Shortly after, the City’s own report found over 10,000 units were almost never used. This has made a sharp contribution to the City’s affordability crisis.
The affordability crisis has actually resulted in a negative flow of young adults. These key consumers to urban areas, tend to drive many of the creative and hospitality industries that make cities livable. As Toronto bleeds them to smaller regions and the suburbs, it sets itself up for long-term damage. This trend is likely to have accelerated during the pandemic, as Toronto’s suburbs became buying hot spots.