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Taxing empty housing seems like the obvious answer. Make it more expensive and more work to keep it empty than it is to fill it.
by fragmede 4mo ago
Taxing empty housing seems like the obvious answer. Make it more expensive and more work to keep it empty than it is to fill it.
- microgpt 4mo agoWhich form do I file to claim that my empty house is not actually empty?
- Obscurity4340 4mo agoMaybe demand the electricity bill? How do insurance companies deal with this kind of misrepresentation?
- microgpt 4mo agoThey just refuse to pay out if it seems like you lied. They don't enforce everything before a claim is filed.
- Schiendelman 4mo agoThis wouldn't be necessary if we weren't using zoning to restrict supply. The restrictions are what cause scarcity, and it's the scarcity that drives up prices. Land owners are already well incentivized not to let housing sit empty, unless their housing's value is being artificially pushed upward through the scarcity we create. Basically, if we quit creating the housing problem with zoning restrictions, you wouldn't see housing sit empty, and it wouldn't matter anyway because the motivated self-interest of FAR more people would build housing to meet demand.
- fragmede 4mo agoHaving had a second to think, it's rent control that's the issue, so the solution would be to get rid of that. Totally politically untenable, but rent control is why landlords are incentivized to leave places vacant.
- Schiendelman 4mo agoEven without rent control, it's often easier to leave a place empty because it keeps your risk lower. In places that allow supply to keep up with demand, notably Japan, buildings depreciate fairly quickly, so your investment goes away if you aren't actively monetizing it.