A grassroots campaign called Locals For Affordable Housing has submitted over 2,400 signatures to South Lake Tahoe, more than twice the amount needed to get a Lake Tahoe vacancy tax on November's ballot.
According to census data, about 44 percent of all housing in South Lake Tahoe is vacant for most of the year.
This adds up to about 7,000 homes.
Got House? Tahoe Group Proposes Vacancy Tax:
This would tax owners who let their homes sit vacant for more than six months out of the year.Â
"That would ideally incentivize occupancy of folks that don't want to pay the tax, they could put a renter in part time, and for people who are choosing to keep it empty, they can pay a tax as an annual contribution so that we can build more affordable housing and make our town function," said Amelia Richmond, co-founder of Locals for Affordable Housing.
The group modeled its initiative off one in the city of Berkeley, which charges a $3,000 tax for the first year a home sits empty, and $6,000 for every year after that.
Over 85 volunteers worked to get the signatures they needed in under 12 weeks.Â
The El Dorado County elections office will verify the signatures to confirm that the initiative can appear on the ballot in November.
