1. United States
2. Calif.
3. Letter

California needs a statewide vacancy tax on empty homes and commercial properties. While residents are priced out of neighborhoods and small businesses struggle to find affordable storefronts, property owners across the state are profiting from keeping space deliberately empty. That needs to stop, and Sacramento has the power to stop it. The problem is structural. Landlords — especially commercial ones — routinely hold out for inflated rents rather than lower their asking price, because lower rents would force refinancing and expose that their properties are worth less than their books claim. Vacancy becomes a financial strategy. A meaningful annual tax on vacant properties breaks that logic and creates real pressure to put space to use. California is in a housing crisis. Every empty home is a family that can't find a place to live. Pass a statewide vacancy tax that applies to both residential and commercial properties, with rates significant enough to make vacancy costly. Other jurisdictions have done it. California should lead.