Victoria councillors voted Thursday to have Mayor Lisa Helps write to the province asking for an amendment to the Community Charter that would give municipalities across the province the right to tax vacant properties.
The province announced this week that it would recall the legislature for a special sitting on July 25 to amend the Vancouver Charter to enable that city to tax vacant properties.
The move was made in response to growing concerns about foreign investment and speculation.
Victoria’s resolution for the letter came from Helps and Coun. Jeremy Loveday.
“We’re facing a housing crisis in Victoria and in municipalities across B.C.,” Loveday said.
“There’s no silver bullet in terms of lessening the impact of the housing crisis. We need to be taking action in a number of ways and we need a broad set of approaches, and this might be one thing we implement.”
Victoria has a vacancy rate of 0.6 per cent and is Canada’s third-most-expensive city in which to buy or rent, according to a June report released by RBC Economics.
