September 24, 2023 The Best Source of News, Culture, Lifestyle for Culver City, Mar Vista, Del Rey, Palms and West Los Angeles

Column: Time to Crack Down on Vacant Homes’ Owners

By Tom Elias, Columnist

​​There is no doubt California has a housing shortage. That’s fact even in the wake of the state auditor’s springtime report showing this state’s Department of Housing and Community Development figures are unreliable, making it hard to know the actual extent of the shortfall.

But we definitely know some of the causes and at long last, a few cities are beginning to figure out ways to at least reduce whatever shortfall exists. The most commonly proposed tactic is to force vacant homes onto the market via a tax or a fine on places that go unused for long periods.

How extensive is the vacancy problem? One estimate from the California Association of Realtors suggests as many as 1.2 million units, apartments and single-family homes, now sit vacant around California. Most are in cities, where in some cases, entire apartment buildings are empty.

San Francisco, where a severe housing shortage caused rents to shoot up sharply just before the coronavirus pandemic, is considering – but has not yet imposed – fines ranging from $2,500 to $5,000 for holding livable quarters off the market.

That proposal moved to the back burner last winter, when it became clear that pandemic-inspired changes in white collar working conditions allowed thousands of city residents to move to more rural digs and work from home, emptying large numbers of San Francisco units.

But the opposite is true across San Francisco Bay in the college town of Berkeley, where city officials are considering a plan to tax vacancies. Much smaller than San Francisco, Berkeley recently reported 141 vacant multi-unit residential buildings, at a time when students are scrounging for housing and controversy surrounds plans for new University of California-owned student quarters.

City councilwoman Kate Harrison has claimed 68 of those buildings had been empty for more than 120 days as of late July, a month before most UC Berkeley students were to return to town.

So Berkeley altered its definition of “blight” to include residential buildings that stand empty more than four months. This will see landlords who hold buildings empty and also allow them to become eyesores in other ways – falling apart, infested by weeds and rodents or in drastic need of new paint – pay fines ranging from $100 to $500 per violation.

Similar ordinances already exist in a very few other cities.

Even Harrison, who badly wants the empty units fixed up and opened to student renters in order to help resolve her city’s obvious shortage, admits fines of that level likely won’t cause investor owners to do much.

But if fines don’t bring movement, the city will likely ask voters to OK a far higher tax on long-term vacancies, the amount not yet determined.

Meanwhile, investor owners are increasingly common all over California, where widespread advertising tempts homeowners to sell while prices are high. “We’ll buy your house as is,” declare some of the television commercials. “No need to spend money fixing it up.”

The citizen group United Neighbors claims institutional buyers, including pension funds and Wall Street investment banks, spent a record $77 billion on single-family homes in the last six months of 2021. Many of these stay off the market while land values rise, in the hopes that increasing housing demand will spur future sales to apartment and condominium builders, now authorized by new state laws to build high rises in areas formerly reserved for single family homes.

One thing for sure: even if there are enough vacant units now held off the market to solve most of a housing shortage estimated at 1.8 million units by Gov. Gavin Newsom, they won’t resolve the need for more affordable housing.

For the owners of units now off the market are after more than just a small profit; they want big-money returns on their investments and those will not be forthcoming from renters except in a very few places.

So far, the capital needed to create affordable housing in large quantities has not appeared. Which leaves the state and its cities in a bind that can be eased only if owners of most currently unused units can be incentivized to rent or sell.

Email Thomas Elias at tdelias@aol.com. His book, “The Burzynski Breakthrough, The Most Promising Cancer Treatment and the Government’s Campaign to Squelch It” is now available in a soft cover fourth edition. For more Elias columns, visit www.californiafocus.net.

Related Posts

Join Heal the Bay for the Official Coastal Cleanup Day on Saturday, September 23

September 21, 2023

September 21, 2023

Make a Difference in Your Community by Removing Trash From Our Coast By Dolores Quintana On Saturday, September 23, 2023,...

Fatal Collision Involving Auto and Motorcycle On September 20 in Palms

September 21, 2023

September 21, 2023

Tragic Incident Prompts Swift Response by Los Angeles Firefighters By Dolores Quintana A tragic auto versus motorcycle collision unfolded at...

COVIDTests.gov to Reopen for Free Testing Starting on September 25

September 21, 2023

September 21, 2023

HHS Invests $600 Million in Domestic COVID-19 Test Manufacturing By Dolores Quintana The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services...

(Video) Citizen Public Market’s New Expanded Rooftop Bar Area

September 21, 2023

September 21, 2023

The rooftop bar’s size has been doubled and offers a relaxing and al fresco area for patrons to enjoy cocktails,...

Shake Shack Introduces Pilot Program with Eco-Friendly Oil

September 21, 2023

September 21, 2023

Zero Acre Farms to partner with Shake Shack in NYC  By Keemia Zhang Shake Shack has announced a partnership with...

Pringles and Caviar Company Introduce New Tiktok-Inspired Collaboration

September 20, 2023

September 20, 2023

TikTok Trend Spurs Special Partnership Between Brands By Keemia Zhang ​Pringles and The Caviar Co. have collaborated to produce the...

Exclusive: One of the West Coast’s Most Celebrated Ice Cream Shops To Open in Brentwood

September 20, 2023

September 20, 2023

Interview With Co-Founder Kim Malek Talks About Their Hopes For Their New Shop By Dolores Quintana It’s been six long...

Breakfast Burritos, Coffee, and Texas Style Tacos Have Arrived In Culver City

September 20, 2023

September 20, 2023

Two Popular Spots Famous For Their Breakfast Burritos Are Now Open By Dolores Quintana The news went out today among...

Culver City Council Highlights: Leadership Sponsorship, Tax Penalties, and Community Honors

September 19, 2023

September 19, 2023

Monday’s City Council Meeting Addresses Key Issues and Commemorates Former Mayor By Dolores Quintana The Culver City City Council convened...

Union Solidarity Coalition Creates Charity Auction to Support Industry Workers Amidst 2023 WGA Strike

September 19, 2023

September 19, 2023

Showbiz Memorabilia, Personal Meetings, Celebrity Dogwalking Among Auction Items By Dolores Quintana The Writers Guild strike against The Alliance of...

Los Angeles Launches ERAP to Prevent Homelessness Amidst Rent Crisis

September 19, 2023

September 19, 2023

United to House Los Angeles Program Offers Vital Rental Assistance By Dolores Quintana The United to House Los Angeles (ULA)...

Phoenix House 5K Walk Fights Opioid Crisis, Raises Overdose Awareness

September 18, 2023

September 18, 2023

Inaugural Walk Seeks To Unite Community and Show Support To Families By Dolores Quintana Phoenix Houses of California, a prominent...

U.S. Poverty Rate Records First Increase in 13 Years, Census Bureau Reports

September 18, 2023

September 18, 2023

Data Shows an Alarming Surge In Poverty Among Most Vulnerable  By Dolores Quintana In a noteworthy development, the poverty rate...

Culver City Police Confront Armed Robbery Suspect at Grace Lutheran Church

September 18, 2023

September 18, 2023

Suspect Left the Scene For Unknown Reasons After Brandishing Gun  By Dolores Quintana On September 17, 2023, at 1:27 p.m.,...

(Video) The Opening of The Nimoy Theater in Westwood

September 18, 2023

September 18, 2023

Just a few glimpses of the celebration today of this new CAP UCLA venue for the performing arts. @culvercitywlanews The...