South Lake Tahoe Vacancy Tax Kick-Off Party and Film Screening

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. - A group of South Lake Tahoe residents is organizing to get a residential vacancy tax on the ballot in 2024 and they will be starting with a kick-off event on September 13.

Starting at 6 p.m. at South of North Brewing, the event will include a film screening of “Room and Board: A Tahoe Housing Crisis Documentary,” created by North Lake Tahoe filmmakers and housing advocates, as well as a vacancy tax Q&A session. For more information on the event, visit https://www.eventbrite.com/e/vacancy-tax-kick-off-party-film-screening-tickets-697273833807.

Advocates for a residential vacancy tax cite that 7,300 houses (45 percent of all housing units) in South Lake Tahoe sit vacant most of the year while local residents struggle to find housing. According to city data, housing prices have doubled in the past eight years, while the population has declined by 10 percent since 2000, and school enrollment is down by 36 percent in the same time frame. Despite significant new construction that increased housing units by 17 percent since 2000, census data shows the increase in vacant second homes has outpaced the added housing units.

“A vacancy tax incentivizes second homeowners to rent their properties to locals while generating millions in tax revenue that can be used to build new workforce housing,” said Amelia Richmond, president of Locals for Affordable Housing. “It is only one piece of local affordable housing policy efforts, but a vacancy tax would have a huge impact in solving the housing crisis in South Lake Tahoe.”

South Lake Tahoe advocates seek to model the vacancy tax on Berkeley's successful Measure M, which requires owners of vacant houses to pay $3,000 for the first year and $6,000 every year thereafter that it remains vacant. The policy has the potential to generate up to $44 million each year for affordable housing development (more than 10 times what is currently available), or add up to 7,300 new housing units to the local market.

About Locals for Affordable Housing
Locals for Affordable Housing is a 501c4 California non-profit for public benefit founded by local residents to support housing affordability in the Lake Tahoe region. The group is committed to advocating for affordable housing and increasing public engagement in local policy discussions. To this end, LFAH is organizing to get a residential vacancy tax on the South Lake Tahoe ballot in 2024 as a citizens' ballot initiative. Learn more at TahoeVacancyTax.com.