There's no real attempt here to explain what all the empty houses are about. Second homes? Pied-à-terre's for the rich that live elsewhere? In nearby British C

There's no real attempt here to explain what all the empty houses are about. Second homes? Pied-à-terre's for the rich that live elsewhere? In nearby British Columbia, recently as property values were spiking there was increased scrutiny of "empty homes" amongst the fact that many new condo developments were luxury developments being explicitly marketed in international magazines and foreign cities. Drilling down to the individual neighbourhood level, some places were more than 20% 'empty'. When the government shifted to the social democratic NDP, the new government brought in a "Speculation Tax" which was really more of a vacancy tax. The tax essentially makes it substantially more expensive to have a secondary, empty, home in certain parts of the province. Places that are obvious tourism towns like Whistler are exempt. https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/b-c-s-speculation-tax-increased-to-2-1.5391309 https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/b-c-s-specul... > Introduced Dec. 31, 2018, the tax targets homes in the most populated areas of B.C. that are not declared as a primary residence or are not rented out for at least three months a year. More than 99 per cent of British Columbians are exempt.