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from the for-$10K/year-I'll-make-a-house-look-lived-in dept.
Vancouver, suffering from a near-zero supply of homes available for rent, plans to slap investors sitting on vacant properties with a new tax in an effort to make housing more accessible in Canada's most-expensive property market.
The levy, which would start in January, may be as high as 2 percent of the property's assessed value, Kathleen Llewellyn-Thomas, the city's general manager of community services, told reporters Wednesday. That would mean a minimum C$20,000 ($15,000) annual payment for the typical C$1 million-plus detached home in Vancouver based on July 2015 assessment data, the most recent available.
"Vancouver is in a rental housing crisis," said Mayor Gregor Robertson, whose announcement follows a separate measure by the province in July to impose a 15 percent tax on foreign buyers. "Dangerously low vacancy rates across the city are near zero."
Vancouver is penalizing property owners for not renting empty buildings.
(Score: 2) by Bogsnoticus on Friday September 16 2016, @07:32AM
I spend nearly 4 hours per day on trains commuting to and from work.
But i'm prepared to do that, as living on 12 acres of forested land with fresh water and fishing, wild game for meat, no police sirens every 5 minutes, no fuck-knuckles doing burnouts on the roads, and the general peace and quiet of country life means my stress levels are now near zero.
The only downside: No fibre connection, ADSL2 only.
Genius by birth. Evil by choice.
(Score: 3, Funny) by driverless on Friday September 16 2016, @10:33AM
I spend nearly 4 hours per day on trains commuting to and from work.
Luxury! I had to get up in the morning at ten o'clock at night, half an hour before I went to bed, travel twenty-nine hours a day down to mill, and pay mill owner for permission to travel there and when we got back to our rent-controlled apartment in Downtown Eastside, our Dad would kill us and dance about on our graves singing about dangerously low vacancy rates.
(There are a lot of drugs in circulation in Downtown Eastside).
(Score: 2) by Bogsnoticus on Saturday September 17 2016, @06:36AM
Did I forget to mention that once I walk home from the station, barefoot in the snow, the missus slices me in two with a bread knife?
Genius by birth. Evil by choice.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday September 16 2016, @02:28PM
I spend nearly 4 hours per day on trains commuting to and from work.
So aside from the weekends you really only go home to sleep and that's it as that's all you have time for after that commute. What's the damn point of having a house then if you don't have much time to enjoy it?
(Score: 2) by Bogsnoticus on Saturday September 17 2016, @06:39AM
I get 4-5 hours of R&R once I get home, providing I hid the bread knife before I left in the morning.
Not to mention Australia is still civilised enough that noone tried to mug or steal from you, at least if there are potential witnesses, that you can catch up on lost sleep during those long trips.
Genius by birth. Evil by choice.
(Score: 2) by dry on Saturday September 17 2016, @01:59AM
I live on 10 acres of forested land. Kids still come out here to do burnouts though sirens are very rare. Only have dial-up and if I had to work in Vancouver, it had better be during regular hours as the train the parent mentions makes 4 trips in during the morning and 4 trips back evenings, so 1/2 hour drive to train, worry about leaving vehicle all day and 2 hour trip to Vancouver.. Instead I work locally, 20 minute drive usually. No way could I handle the stress of a long commute.