Letter of the Day: Housing “Solutions”.Trudeau’s Fleet Testimony

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Will the “vacant unit tax” do the job?

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On November 14th, the City of Ottawa sent out individual notices to all homeowners with the purpose of notifying the City of the occupancy status of their homes from January through March 16th, 2023. Vacant Unit Tax (VUT) is a tax levied on residential units that have been vacant for six months or more, but not in the principal place of residence. VUT aims to encourage homeowners to bring their units back to the housing market, with proceeds used to support affordable housing initiatives. If you fail to declare it, the house will be considered vacant and tax will be levied.

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This VUT implementation procedure is highly bureaucratic, requiring all property owners to submit an annual return of occupancy status. Indeed, from the city’s own data on tax revenues from housing and utility payments, it is possible to distinguish between resident occupancy and instances of vacant homes with minimal or no utility bills and frequent delays in regular tax payments. increase.

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With all kinds of vacant homes in the city, in the hands of speculators and developers, we may and should be forced to respond to the necessary housing crisis.

Right next door to us is an amazing 3 bedroom bungalow with sunroom and garage, now empty, 7 years after being purchased by a large business owner. The house was sold in perfect condition. The location couldn’t be more convenient. It is a social crime and morally wrong to deliberately withhold such luxurious and prime accommodations from much-needed urban housing.

George Neville, Ottawa

Local planning is better than Bill 23

Re: Ontario passes controversial housing bill, province aims to build 1.5 million homes over 10 years, Nov 28.

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During the local elections in June, I thought it would be a good idea to build 1.5 million new homes over 10 years. It makes sense to increase supply and reduce costs. There were no details on how to achieve this lofty goal.

It also lacked a political platform that included a transition to a dictatorship or authoritarian government by allowing the mayors of Toronto and Ottawa to pass bylaws with the support of one-third of the legislature. This is not the government of any country in Canada. I think any mayor who tries to exercise this power should be removed from office immediately.

On the other hand, eliminating the fees normally levied to build infrastructure for new developments would leave state and local taxpayers to bear these costs. It looks like a non-starter to me and makes the project irreversible. Hmm.

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You can do better than this. Let’s repeal this law and get back to local planning groups to solve the problem of affordable housing.

Phil Logan, Ottawa

No surprises in Trudeau’s testimony

Re: ‘Lack of Confidence’ in Police Plans: Prime Minister Trudeau says there was no replacement for the Nov. 25 emergency law.

Of course, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau testified that he would have no choice but to invoke the emergency law. He wasn’t going to get up there and say, “I’m sorry, I made a mistake.” Trudeau apologizes for the mistakes others made decades and hundreds of years ago, but he doesn’t apologize for what he did.

I don’t know what the Commissioner wanted to get out of him. Whatever it was, he didn’t understand it.

DJ Phillips, Gloucester