Today's letters: Housing 'solutions'; Trudeau's convoy testimony

Will ‘vacant unit tax’ do its job?

On Nov. 14, the City of Ottawa dispatched individual letters of notification to all residential property owners for the purpose of notifying the city between January and March 16, 2023 of  the occupancy of their housing. The Vacant Unit Tax (VUT) is a tax on residential units that are not a principal residence and are vacant for more than six months. The VUT is meant to encourage homeowners to return units to the housing market, and proceeds will be used to support affordable housing initiatives. If you do not complete your declaration, your property will be deemed vacant and you will be charged the tax.

This VUT implementation procedure is highly bureaucratic in placing the onus on every property owner to file an annual declaration of occupancy status. Surely from the city’s own data on tax receipts and utility payments from housing, it can differentiate residency occupancy from instances of vacant property, which often lags in payment of regular taxes with minimal or nil utility charges.

There is all kinds of housing sitting vacant within the city, tied up in the hands of speculators and developers that could, and should, be pressed into meeting the needed housing crisis.

In our immediate area, there is a fine three-bedroom bungalow with sunroom and garage that has remained vacant now going into its seventh year after it was bought by a large corporate owner. The house was sold in perfect condition. The location could not be more convenient. That such splendid, prime accommodation is purposely withheld from needed urban housing is a social crime, morally wrong.

George Neville, Ottawa

Local planning is better than Bill 23

Re: Ontario passes controversial housing bill as province aims to build 1.5 million homes in 10 years, Nov. 28.

During the provincial election in June, I thought it was a good idea to build 1.5 million new homes over 10 years. Decreasing cost by increasing supply made sense. Missing were the details of how this lofty goal could be reached.

Also missing was any political platform that included transition to dictatorship or authoritarian government by enabling the mayors of Toronto and Ottawa to pass bylaws with one-third of the support of council. This is not our form of government anywhere in Canada. I believe any mayor who attempts to use this power should be relieved of duties immediately.

Meanwhile, removing the fees normally collected to build infrastructure for new developments leaves provincial and municipal taxpayers on the hook for these costs. It looks like a non-starter to me, making the project undoable. And let’s not forget weakening of conservation authorities to preserve greenbelts and reduce pollution.

We can do better than this. Let’s retract this legislation and return to local planning groups to solve the issue of affordable housing.

Phil Logan, Ottawa

No surprises from testifying Trudeau

Re: ‘No confidence’ in police plan: Trudeau says he had no alternative to Emergencies Act, Nov. 25.

Of course Prime Minister Justin Trudeau testified that he had no choice but to invoke the Emergencies Act. He wasn’t going to get up there and say, “I’m sorry, I made a mistake.”  Trudeau apologizes for other people’s mistakes from decades and centuries ago, but he doesn’t apologize for things he did himself.

I don’t know what the commissioner hoped to get out of having him appear. Whatever it was, he didn’t get it.

D.J. Phillips, Gloucester