Vacant homes are a waste of resources and an insult to those lacking housing. We need to end the mortgage interest tax break for second homes. In 2017, a CA law was proposed to do that, but died in committee. Let's bring it back in 2020. https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billTextClient.xhtml?bill_id=201720180AB71 1/
2017's AB-71 would have raised $300 million a year for affordable housing. There were (and remain) legit concerns from rural areas with lots of vacation homes that rely on tourism. Give them an exception. But there's no excuse for 2nd homes in urban areas. 2/
Most studies of vacant homes find:

About 1/2 are on the way to being occupied:
-- Homes for rent
-- Homes for sale
-- Rented and purchased homes awaiting move-in
-- Homes being renovated

Most of rest are:
-- Vacation homes
-- Pied-a-terres
-- Held empty as an investment
3/
Let's look at how we can reduce vacancy in each of these categories. For the first one, "Homes for rent", we can:
1) Reduce evictions and move-outs through rent control and Just Cause protections.
2) Require landlords to accept the first qualified applicant. 4/
To reduce the number of vacant homes that are in the "Homes for sale" category, we can:
1) Pass a "flip tax" to disincentivize frequent selling.
Other than that the housing shortage is already doing a good job of getting houses sold fast. 5/
To reduce the number of vacant homes in the "Renovation" category, we can:
1) Limit pass-through rent increases for renovations that aren't related to safety issues.
2) Allow vacancy control by repealing Costa-Hawkins.
3) Streamline permitting and inspection process. 6/
To reduce the number of vacant homes in the "Vacation home" category, we can:
1) End the mortgage tax break for 2nd homes in cities and rural areas with housing shortages.
2) Ban full time AirBNB'ing of entire homes.
3) Allow more hotels to be built. 7/
To reduce the # of vacant homes in the "Pied-a-terre" (a personal apt in city used sometimes by a suburbanite) category, we can:
1) End mortgage tax break for 2nd homes.
2) Pass a vacancy tax.
3) Build more hotels.
4) Tax the rich more.
5) Improve nightlife in the suburbs. 8/
To reduce the number of vacant homes in the "Held empty as an investment" category, we can:
1) Raise taxes on capital gains.
2) Pass a vacancy tax.
3) Raise property taxes.
4) Reduce secrecy around property ownership with a statewide registry. 9/
Another category of vacant homes is "resident is in long term care facility". For this one, we can help more people age in place by:
1) More funding / better pay for in-home healthcare.
2) Build/renovate homes to be fully accessible. 10/
Many California cities currently have vacancy rates just over 3%. With a full range of policies to reduce turnover, speed up occupancy, divert short term uses to hotels, and divert investment dollars into something else, we may be able to pick up a couple percentage points. 11/
Reducing vacancy will help, but it won't end homelessness. With thousands commuting in, and many people doubled up or living in vehicles, the Bay Area and LA are effectively at negative vacancy rates. As vacant homes open up, it'll be the middle class that fills them. 12/
just like there's no substitute for public health or public schools if you want everyone to have healthcare and education, there is no substitute for public housing if you want everyone to have housing. 13/
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