Taking it a step further: last year, Toronto brought in a vacant property tax. This is a penalty applied to properties that sit dormant for a year or more. There’s no reason not to do this in St. John’s, too. It’s not fair to our community to be complacent about this issue. /8

Oldie-but-goodie, from two years ago this week. Congratulations to the City of Toronto 🇨🇦 in beating many U.S. cities to the punch in adopting City of Vancouver's #EmptyHomesTax this year. cc Ana Bailão Yes on Empty Home Tax 2022 Progress Toronto

California's de facto affordable housing policy is to exile our working and middle class families out to the desert while reserving our temperate, high-opportunity coastal cities for the super wealthy. It's unethical on so many levels.

seattle needs this. also, expand it to a "non primary residence" tax and tie it to voter registration.

very much yes

"British Columbia’s high temperature record this summer overtook that of Las Vegas. So mitigating climate change by rapidly cutting greenhouse gases becomes not just a good idea but a survival necessity." Let's stop churning out GHGs to construct and maintain empty second homes.

Ken Griffin has hoovered up $1 billion of vanity, post-divorce real estate in London, New York, and Florida. Time for an #EmptyHomesTax. nomoreghosthomes.com/2021/09/05/ix-…

I think there’s a lot to this. Why is childcare so expensive? To a significant extent, bad housing policy. Why is inequality rising? To a significant extent, bad housing policy. Repeat… worksinprogress.co/issue/the-hous…

Astounding graph from Bloomberg on China's housing bubble. Given the misery costly housing causes in NY and SF — near the bottom here — the stress it causes working people in China, Mumbai, Delhi, São Paulo, and Lagos is hard to imagine.

A celebration of Patrick Collison, Stripe, and their support of sensible housing policy (and California YIMBY). nomoreghosthomes.com/2021/10/02/x-p…

Helen Santoro No More Ghost Homes @Meredith_Sell Rocky Mountain Politics CB residents will vote on it this fall, I believe: crestedbuttenews.com/2021/09/counci…

How are some cities using their "first tranche of COVID relief money from the American Rescue Plan"? "Palm Beach Gardens, Florida — in Palm Beach County, home to 160 golf courses — is building a new golf course." Paging push the needle. khn.org/news/article/f…

Housing markets around the world are in crisis. In the latest edition of DW News Business Beyond, I look at some of the hotspots with the help of Steve Saretsky Mark Zandi CATU Ireland and others. Watch: youtube.com/watch?v=3UAdGu…

Following Bill Trotter's lead in noting how too many little-used vacation homes in Bar Harbor, Maine hurt The Jackson Laboratory's ability to recruit and retain its scientists. Maine suffers — but so do all patients who'd otherwise benefit from impeded JAX research. nomoreghosthomes.com/2021/12/05/xii…

This podcast is illuminating. The CEO of Toll Brothers describes how a decade of undersupply + millennials scrambling to buy homes has resulted in enormous profits for those who own/build homes (and pain for those who are renters or looking to buy). Time for an #EmptyHomesTax.