Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson renews call for tax on empty homes

Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson is renewing calls for a tax on vacant homes as an incentive to increase housingavailability in the city's tight rental market.

"It's an approach to get people to rent empty homes," said Robertson on Tuesday.

"If we can create that momentum, than it creates morerental housing. Obviously that's income to people who have empty homes."

Less than one per cent of homes inVancouver are available forrent, according to the Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation.

Arecent report on empty homes in Vancouverindicated 4.8 per cent of the city's homes were empty whichRobertson says representsmore than 10,000 houses and condos sitting empty for more than a year.

Robertson acknowledged it would be a challenge to get the province on board with the tax.

"The city's powers are very limited withhousingand that's why we're in this predicament.That's why we need support from the provincial government," Robertson said.

However,the province pointsout the city's own report showsthe rate of empty homeshas remained stable over the last 14 years and is in line with other major cities across Canada.

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It also said the report foundthere is no correlation with the number of empty homesand the cost of real estate,and thata tax wouldn't help affordability.

Instead, the province saysit's focusing its efforts elsewhere to increase housing affordability.

"Finding ways to bring new supply of housing rental and market into development for people to access is a priority," said the Finance Ministry in a written statement.

"In a city as desirable and land-constrained as Vancouver, an essential way to promote appropriate housing options for income earners at all levels is to encourage densification."

The ministry also said it is working closely with municipalities to find solutions to the region's housing affordability issues.

With files from Richard Zussman