Denley: Why stop at the vacant unit tax? Ottawa should introduce a 'CRAP' program

Building on the, er, success of the VUT, it’s obviously time for the Communal Residential Action Plan. Governments are meant to invent weird schemes, aren’t they?

Published Dec 27, 2023 • Last updated 13 hours ago • 3 minute read

New homes under construction in Ottawa. Ah, but surely the city should decide how much space you need? We can’t possibly leave that decision to the property owner! Photo by Sean Kilpatrick /The Canadian Press

It’s predictable that a handful of cranks would be upset by the City of Ottawa’s totally reasonable and utterly judicious audit of compliance with its brilliant Vacant Unit Tax program. These malcontents think that it is quite enough — or perhaps even too much — for the city to demand annual proof that homeowners do, in fact, live in their own homes.

These complainers must catch up with the times.

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Surely in Ottawa, of all places, we must realize that each and every government rule is meant to be vigorously enforced. That’s why the city is randomly auditing 1,525 homeowners and demanding that they produce extra documentation to prove they live in their own houses.

Perhaps asking people to do this right before Christmas wasn’t the very best timing, but even Santa makes a list and checks it twice to see who’s naughty and nice. That’s all the city is doing.

We have to see the big picture. Somewhere out there in this metropolis of one million people, there are those who choose to buy a house or condo, pay the taxes and utilities, but neither live in it nor rent it out. At a time when there is a shortage of housing, this is obviously the height of social irresponsibility.

The VUT, as it is affectionately known, is intended to correct that problem. To encourage people to rent out those vacant properties, the city will eventually hit them with a tax penalty equivalent to one per cent of the value of their property. Even filing late would cost you $250 and if you only pretended to live in your own house, that’s a $10,000 penalty. How much more encouraging can the city get?

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If there is any problem with the VUT, it’s that it doesn’t do nearly enough to solve the city’s vexing shortage of affordable housing. Sure, it will generate a bit of money for social housing and maybe encourage some people to become landlords, but so much more can be done.

Building on the success of the VUT, it’s time for the Communal Residential Action Plan (CRAP). Think of all those empty-nesters living in their big suburban houses with spare bedrooms galore. Now think about the 12,000 people who are on the city’s social housing list, hoping for larger, cheaper accommodation.

It’s a marriage made in Heaven. Instead of rattling around in that big house all alone, the 90-year-old widow could enjoy the company of an entire family, who could move into her home and live communally.

Communal living, we have recently been told by city officials, is an exciting idea, so surely the more of it the better. The widow wouldn’t have to do a thing. The city itself would supply her new tenants. Well, not tenants in the usual sense. Perhaps co-living partners would be a better term.

Some might oppose this approach, but a tax penalty of one per cent of the property’s value would surely encourage them. If not, just make co-living mandatory. The idea is simply too good to be ruined by stuffy reactionaries who believe that because they “own” a house, they should have the right to decide how it’s used.

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Why, this is just selfish, old-fashioned thinking. As the city has already demonstrated with the VUT and rules restricting short-term rentals, how you use your property is up to government, not you.

The new CRAP plan would be applauded by progressive city councillors and their supporters across the city. It would take equity and inclusion to whole new levels. Why should you live in a home that’s larger than you need when another family has to put up with inadequate space? That’s hardly equitable. What could be more inclusive than having others right in your own home?

This is Ottawa’s chance to be on the cutting edge of housing policy. With the new VUT-CRAP plan, we would be the envy of the world.

Randall Denley is an Ottawa political commentator and author. Contact him at [email protected]

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