Name: LA Takes Step Towards Taxing Vacant Units
Brand: laist.com
SKU: laist-com-76
Availability: OnlineOnly

critic

LA Takes Step Towards Taxing Vacant Units

preview

Support for LAist comes fromWe Explain L.A.Stay ConnectedLAist is part of Southern California Public Radio (SCPR), a member-supported public media network. Hear our news on-air at our partner site:Our top stories delivered weeknightsShare ThisStories like these are only possible with your help!You have the power to keep local news strong for the coming months. Your financial support today keeps our reporters ready to meet the needs of our city. Thank you for investing in your community.Sign up for How To LA, delivered weekday mornings.Our news is free on LAist. To make sure you get our coverage: . To support our non-profit public service journalism: Donate Now.Los Angeles is in a housing crisis. Yet up to 100,000 units, many of them luxury apartments, sit empty.City lawmakers think a vacancy tax could help. At today's council meeting, they voted 13-0 to ask City Attorney Mike Feuer to draft a ballot measure. But before landing on ballots in November, the proposal would have to survive another council vote by July 1, and then garner two-thirds support at the polls.The tax is modeled after in 2018, which penalizes property owners whose units are in use for fewer than 50 days. Oakland's Measure W garnered 70% of the vote; it exempts low-income and non-profit owners.Support for LAist comes fromL.A.'s tax could garner as much as $150 million annually for affordable housing, renter protections or affordable housing, according to the city's housing department.DON'T MISS ANY L.A. CORONAVIRUS NEWSGet our daily newsletters for the latest on COVID-19 and other top local headlines.andOn Tuesday, L.A.'s councilmembers voted to exclude commercial property and some single family homes from the tax. Several expressed displeasure with the fast-moving item, but Mike Bonin and David Ryu, who introduced it, argued urgent action is needed."The market is broken, and the disparity is affecting everything from skyrocketing rent prices to an increase in homelessness," Bonin said. He argued that the tax would push some units back onto the market, create a desperately needed revenue stream for the city, and could counteract the commodification of housing.In recent weeks, -- in a repeat of the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis."We now have corporations and family trusts that are perfectly comfortable with leaving buildings unoccupied," Councilmember Mitch O'Farrell said at the meeting. from the city's Housing and Community Investment Department estimated the citywide vacancy rate is between 6% and 7%. Pricier units are more likely to sit empty, third-party data shows.Support for LAist comes fromFrom HCID's report: The Vacancy rate is far higher at the top of the market. It's the luxury units that are sitting empty — Aaron Mendelson (@a_mendelson)The vast majority of recently-built and under-construction units in Los Angeles are in the high-end of the market, while the city has been losing low-income housing, data from the real estate information company CoStar indicates.WE LOVE TO ANSWER YOUR QUESTIONS

Support for LAist comes fromWe Explain L.A.Stay ConnectedLAist is part of Southern California Public Radio (SCPR), a member-supported public media network. Hear our news on-air at our partner site:Our top stories delivered weeknightsShare ThisStories like these are only possible with your help!You have the power to keep local news strong for the coming months. Your financial support today keeps our reporters ready to meet the needs of our city. Thank you for investing in your community.Sign up for How To LA, delivered weekday mornings.Our news is free on LAist. To make sure you get our...

public

Aaron Mendelson

laist.com

Credible

Speculation

Anecdotal Evidence

Generalization

Stacking the Deck

Appeal to Authority

Straw Man

Slippery Slope

Emotional Appeal

Red Herring

False Dilemma

Illogical

Moral Equivalency

Ad Hominem

Correlation w/o Causation

Semantics

Begging the Question

Faulty Analogy

Non Sequitur

Bandwagon

Dogmatism

Failing Occam's Razor

Biased

Pure Opinion

Hit Piece

Racial Bias

National Bias

Religious Bias

Financial Incentive

Political Agenda

Gender Bias

Misused Image/Video

Study Misinterpreted

Mistake

Misused Term

Science Misrepresented

Factual Error

Satire

Surface Level

Lack of Reliable Sources

Sensational

Not Credible

Investigative

Balanced

Well Sourced

Great Context

sports

entertainment

U.S.

international

business

technology

science

culture

politics

media

health

LA Takes Step Towards Taxing Vacant Units

No article scores yet.

CRITIC REVIEWS

PUBLIC REVIEWS