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> It hasn’t done squat.

By what metric? I'm not sure that's accurate [0]. It looks like the vacancy rate has seen a steady decline and the money raised ($86.6m) helped Community Housing Incentive Program (CHIP) and Land Acquisition/Development opportunities.

[0] https://vancouver.ca/files/cov/vancouver-2021-empty-homes-ta...




If I am reading the chart correctly, it says a total of (13 + 130 - 7) homes are no longer vacant? That's not a lot


That's from 2019-2020. If you look at the data since this program has been implemented it looks like this more successful (1096 + 706 + 21). It's somewhat expected for this program to have a reduces effect over time as people start making their decision with this policy in mind.


By the one metric that matters: how much do homes cost?


This policy doesn't intend to address real estate affordability but the supply of rental housing in Vancouver. From the document I linked:

> Vancouver continues to experience the lowest rental vacancy rates and highest rents among Canada’s major cities, making rental housing affordability and availability a significant challenge for those who live and work in Vancouver, and those who would like to in the future. In an effort to address this and increase the supply of rental housing in Vancouver, in 2017, the City of Vancouver introduced the Empty Homes Tax (EHT), also known as the Vacancy Tax.




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