Mayor Olivia Chow stated, 'Last year, it was a huge, huge fiasco. The staff is changing, fundamentally, the design of it. So, no arbitrary deadlines, no automatic notice that scares the daylights out of people.' This reflects the administration’s effort to alleviate public concerns surrounding the tax.
Chow emphasized the necessity of the vacant home tax to combat the housing crisis, mentioning, 'There are 10,000 units out there that are vacant right now. Let's take that number down and house people in them.' Her words reinforce the intent behind the tax.
This year, the city staff plans to launch a communications blitz to ensure homeowners are informed about the vacant home tax, which includes simplifications in both online and telephone declaration processes.
Following an earlier flawed rollout where over 169,000 properties were wrongly assessed as vacant, Chow acknowledged the need for a redesign, claiming the previous process was 'fundamentally flawed' and required significant changes.
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