In a bid to keep properties from sitting empty when they could be housing people, the City of Ottawa is set to begin taxing vacant residential units next year.
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Posted: Dec 12, 2020 4:00 AM ET | Last Updated: December 12, 2020
The Hintonburg Community Association has been tracking boarded-up homes in the neighbourhood like these. (Kate Porter/CBC)
The City of Ottawa will look into implementing a tax on homes that are left vacant when they could be housing people, a step Vancouver has taken and Toronto is on the verge of taking.
City council asked staff this week to study whether such a tax would work in Ottawa, and report back in the spring about asking the provincial government for that power.
The Hintonburg Community Association has been tracking the growing number of houses whose doors and windows remain boarded shut, in some cases years after their tenants were evicted.