There is no legitimate complaint about empty housing, not just because empty houses pay the same tax as occupied ones, but because empty housing is a myth.
I used to live in Yaletown (Vancouver) and the building I lived in was this very tall, maybe 35 story two tower block which only had two elevators. It took me about 6 months to realize that I never saw anybody else in the building. There were only 3 occupied apartments on my floor (I think there were 8 units per floor). I was told the building was designed to be a "piggy bank in the sky" and that low occupancy was in the design.
This is just an anecdote, but I was under the impression low occupancy is an issue in Vancouver so much so that they tried to pass laws regarding empty homes.
I used to live in Yaletown (Vancouver) and the building I lived in was this very tall, maybe 35 story two tower block which only had two elevators. It took me about 6 months to realize that I never saw anybody else in the building. There were only 3 occupied apartments on my floor (I think there were 8 units per floor). I was told the building was designed to be a "piggy bank in the sky" and that low occupancy was in the design.
This is just an anecdote, but I was under the impression low occupancy is an issue in Vancouver so much so that they tried to pass laws regarding empty homes.