SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. (AP) — Vacation home owners in Northern California’s South Lake Tahoe could face a significant tax increase if voters in the mountain resort approve a measure in the Tuesday’s vote which opposes affordable housing against private property rights.

South Lake Tahoe, which sits on the shores of the iconic Alpine Lake, has about 7,000 vacant homes, or 44% of the city’s estimated housing units, according to the 2022 American Community Survey. Measure N would levy one apartment $3,000 tax on vacant homes for 182 days during a calendar year.

The tax would increase to $6,000 for each subsequent year the house remains empty for half the year.

The city is the last across the United States with growing debate over the impact of vacation properties. Critics say vacant second homes have worsened the nation’s housing crisis by contributing to a shortage of affordable rental properties, especially in pricey vacation spots like South Lake Tahoe.

Supporters The measure’s authors say they want to encourage landlords to rent to workers or contribute to a fund for housing, roads and transportation projects. It is said that the city is losing families as businesses struggle to hire staff in a region where there is little land available for housing development.

Kelly Bessem works at least 50 hours per week at multiple jobs as a hydrology and land management field scientist and snowboard instructor. She’s currently sleeping in her car to buy a house in Markleeville, a 40-minute drive from South Lake Tahoe.

“I’ve done everything I need to do, but I’m still at the point where I’m sneaking around,” Bessem said.

Nancy Dunn, homeowner who has lived part-time in South Lake Tahoe since 2018, opposes the measure as unfair and un-American.

“This is my home, and I want to be able to come back to it whenever I want, and come and go as I feel,” Dunn said as she filled her house with firewood earlier this month. “The American way is to have the right to own property and do with it what you want. »

The California Association of Realtors and the National Association of Realtors together contributed $1 million to defeat the measure in a city with only 12,000 registered voters.

Although still rare in the United States, more countries are considering an empty or vacant housing tax to address the workforce housing shortage by tapping into underutilized housing. to expand the long-term rental market.

In Hawaiithe Honolulu City Council is trying to pass a tax on empty homes, its third attempt since 2018while the Colorado Ski Area Association is seeking legislation to allow cities and counties to ask voters to approve taxes on vacant homes.

Margaret Bowes, executive director of the Colorado Group, said resorts have few options where they can build. The lack of housing “has reached crisis level” affecting basic services and commerce “from ski resort companies to small local businesses,” she said.

Perhaps the best-known example is Vancouver, Canada, which in 2017 imposed a 1% tax on the assessed value of an empty home. The tax is now 3% and the city says it has generated $142 million for affordable housing projects.

In California, San Francisco and Berkeley have approved taxes on vacant properties in 2022.

Taxes on vacant homes can work to some extent in big cities, but a tax on empty homes could make a huge difference in small towns like South Lake Tahoe, said Shane Phillips, who manages the Randall Lewis Housing Initiative at the University of California, Los Angeles.

He didn’t know enough about the proposed tax to weigh in, but he generally supports vacancy taxes on vacation homes in areas where housing is scarce. Taxes can be used to discourage harmful behavior, he explained, such as taxes on cigarettes.

“And I think there’s a similar argument to be made here, which is that people consuming multiple homes and not living in them in communities like South Lake Tahoe…that’s actually hurting other people people,” Phillips said.

Measure N shook the small community, which, with about 21,000 year-round residents, is the most populous city around Lake Tahoe and a popular weekend destination. It is located 300 kilometers northeast of San Francisco.

The city has a median household income of $68,000, lower than California’s median income of $95,000. The median sales price for a home was $750,000 in September, up from $427,000 five years ago, according to Redfin.

On the model of that of Berkeley tax on empty homesthe city anticipates that the proposed tax raise up to $8 million in its first year and up to $20 million per year thereafter.

Amelia Richmond, co-founder of Locals for Affordable Housing, the group that collected signatures to put the issue on the ballot, said it’s an opportunity to ensure South Lake Tahoe doesn’t go the way other mountain towns with even higher vacancy rates. .

Landowners would self-declare each year, although documentation may be required. There are exceptions to the occupancy requirement, such as homes undergoing renovation.

To avoid the tax, vacation home owners could sell their property, rent it out to a year-round tenant, or rent it out to travelers or seasonal workers. They can’t list their homes as short-term rentals after the city voted to reduce rentals of less than 30 days, citing noise and a housing shortage.

Opponents say many have saved for modest second homes and should not be punished for the area’s lack of affordable housing. They are also unhappy because, as part-time residents, they cannot vote on the measure.

Tom Fields, 85, divides his time between a three-bedroom house that he describes as having nothing special except its location on Lake Tahoe and a place in central Oregon.

“It’s crazy and I don’t even know if it’s constitutional,” he said. “When you buy land and they start taking away your rights, that’s when people get upset.”

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Har reported from San Francisco.

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