Vacant House Tax Could Close The Gap On Housing Assets, Councillor Says

A motion has been brought forward to Saint John city council that could close the gap on wasted housing assets.

Councillor Brent Harris shared his ‘Vacant House Tax’ motion during a Common Council meeting on Monday.

A vacant house tax is an imposed penalty on an individual sitting on a housing asset, such as vacant land or a short-term rental that is underutilized.

“There’s a number of ways it could be done, it could be through a property tax assessment penalty, or it could also be a fine system, where failure to comply is issued and then you are fined for leaving it vacant,” said Harris.

With more than 70 buildings currently abandoned in the city, Harris said a vacant house tax has the potential to help with rehabilitation.

“If you look at the average number of units per building, you’re looking at around 200 units across those 70-plus buildings, and each unit has an average of around two and a half to three bedrooms, so you could be looking at as few as 200 people, and as many as 600 people housed if we were just to rehabilitate,” said Harris.

“The affordable housing waitlist is 1,200 people long, so when you can potentially eliminate at least half of that waitlist through a simple mechanism.”

Council voted to refer the motion to City Manager John Collin.

Collin will review the motion and see if Saint John has the capacity to implement a vacant house motion, as well as focus on the city’s ability to impose it on residential properties in Saint John’s primary development area.