A councillor absent from a typically routine procedure that would have enabled a vacant home tax (VHT) in Hamilton, Ont., says she’s “surprised and shocked” the bylaw didn’t pass a vote among her colleagues.
It means the legislation, seeking to discourage speculators and hopefully open up about a thousand empty units for rentals, isn’t going to happen soon.
Ward 3 Coun. Nrinder Nann insists she didn’t see any prior indication the law would have trouble with ratification after several months of debates and information sessions which saw approvals at other levels.
“So yeah, I was surprised,” Nann explained.
“I usually don’t like to leave council meetings, but I did schedule work that I needed to do for my mom while she was in hospital.”
City centre (Ward 2) Coun. Cameron Kroetsch and Flamborough East’s (Ward 15) Ted McMeekin were the other two city politicians on the sidelines, like Nann, Wednesday afternoon.
The bylaw vote, which in most instances is a formality at council, was defeated in a 6-to-6 deadlock with the three councillors absent and Mayor Andrea Horwath taking herself out of the mix due to a conflict.
In a social media post, Ward 1 Coun. Maureen Wilson called the process “regrettable” since the plan was to have revenues collected from the tax sunk back into affordable housing.
West End (Ward 8) Coun. John Paul Danko was also stunned, wondering how “direction that’s already been approved” failed to come to fruition.
Eastside Coun. (Ward 5) Matt Francis, who was one of the six voting against the VHT, said he agrees with the idea “in principle” but not how the city planned to execute it.
He suggests a process to send out 177,000 letters to owners with the expectation of 100 per cent would respond is not reality.
“That’s the complicated part of this,” Francis suggested.
“So that takes a lot of manpower to do that, and it costs a lot of money to do that.”
He goes on to say something sent through basic letter mail in this day and age is too easily misplaced.
“And if they don’t declare it every year, then they get charged a tax, no questions asked. That’s where I have an issue with it,” he said.
Despite the setback, Nann says she’s optimistic council will be able to “take care of the procedural mess” and continue forward with some sort of vacant homes tax, suggesting it’s a “no-brainer.”
She cited a similar tax in Ottawa generated $10 million this past year and that millions potentially generated by a Hamilton version could be reinvested into much-needed affordable housing in the city.
“I think the only people that I’ve ever heard opposition from are those who fall within that investor group,” said Nann.
Francis also doesn’t believe the issue is dead but says council will likely have to go back and debate it all over again.
“Maybe it’s an opportunity then to put more of this on the floor and maybe some other councillors will consider amending this,” he said.