Canmore can't tax its way out of housing crisis
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A recent court decision has cleared the way for Canmore next year to impose a 'Livability Tax' — a 0.4 per cent property tax surcharge for homes left unoccupied for more than half the year.
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Mayor Sean Krausert called the ruling a 'big win for Canmore.' But without addressing the cause of Canmore's housing shortage — too few new homes being built — this new tax is simply a costly distraction.
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Canmore is not alone in taxing housing that is supposedly underused. Vancouver, Toronto, Ottawa and the federal government have imposed similar taxes. According to proponents, these taxes encourage part-time residents to sell or rent their properties to full-time residents.
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However, the evidence for this is underwhelming. A study of Vancouver's Empty Homes Tax found that it shifted 5,355 homes from part- to full-time residency between 2016 and 2021.
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While that may seem like progress, during the same five-year period, construction started on more than 240,000 new homes. And despite the tax, home prices and rents continued to rise significantly. Again, because new housing construction has not kept pace with population growth, partly due to policies that discourage homebuilding — such as high municipal fees, long permit approval wait times and restrictive rules on what can be built and where — challenges that are familiar to Canmore's homebuilders.
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Taxing part-time residency is no substitute for genuine housing reform, and may in fact deter investment in new housing.
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Vacant home taxes are also costly for governments to administer. According to Canmore's latest budget, it will cost $920,000 in the first year and $820,000 in the second year just to administer the tax. That amounts to between eight and nine per cent of the projected $10.3 million in annual revenue generated.
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By contrast, the administrative cost of ordinary property tax administration in Canada is typically about two per cent of revenue. The Livability Tax will apply to Canmore residents who occupy their housing unit for less than 183 days a year.
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Crucially, the stakes of vacant home taxation are unusually high for Canmore. A study commissioned by the municipality estimates that one in four homes are likely not occupied full time. That may increase the tax's reach, but also its potential harm.
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Why? Because deterring part-time residents is a risky proposition. The underlying assumption of the Livability Tax is that full-time residents are more valuable to the community than part-time residents. But the town council's arbitrary 183-day threshold does not account for a resident's contribution to Canmore's economy or civic life.
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Calgary Herald
15-05-2025
- Calgary Herald
Canmore can't tax its way out of housing crisis
Article content A recent court decision has cleared the way for Canmore next year to impose a 'Livability Tax' — a 0.4 per cent property tax surcharge for homes left unoccupied for more than half the year. Article content Article content Mayor Sean Krausert called the ruling a 'big win for Canmore.' But without addressing the cause of Canmore's housing shortage — too few new homes being built — this new tax is simply a costly distraction. Article content Article content Canmore is not alone in taxing housing that is supposedly underused. Vancouver, Toronto, Ottawa and the federal government have imposed similar taxes. According to proponents, these taxes encourage part-time residents to sell or rent their properties to full-time residents. Article content Article content However, the evidence for this is underwhelming. A study of Vancouver's Empty Homes Tax found that it shifted 5,355 homes from part- to full-time residency between 2016 and 2021. Article content While that may seem like progress, during the same five-year period, construction started on more than 240,000 new homes. And despite the tax, home prices and rents continued to rise significantly. Again, because new housing construction has not kept pace with population growth, partly due to policies that discourage homebuilding — such as high municipal fees, long permit approval wait times and restrictive rules on what can be built and where — challenges that are familiar to Canmore's homebuilders. Article content Article content Taxing part-time residency is no substitute for genuine housing reform, and may in fact deter investment in new housing. Article content Vacant home taxes are also costly for governments to administer. According to Canmore's latest budget, it will cost $920,000 in the first year and $820,000 in the second year just to administer the tax. That amounts to between eight and nine per cent of the projected $10.3 million in annual revenue generated. Article content By contrast, the administrative cost of ordinary property tax administration in Canada is typically about two per cent of revenue. The Livability Tax will apply to Canmore residents who occupy their housing unit for less than 183 days a year. Article content Crucially, the stakes of vacant home taxation are unusually high for Canmore. A study commissioned by the municipality estimates that one in four homes are likely not occupied full time. That may increase the tax's reach, but also its potential harm. Article content Why? Because deterring part-time residents is a risky proposition. The underlying assumption of the Livability Tax is that full-time residents are more valuable to the community than part-time residents. But the town council's arbitrary 183-day threshold does not account for a resident's contribution to Canmore's economy or civic life.
Global News
01-05-2025
- Global News
New tax targeting empty homes in Canmore stirs divisions
The Town of Canmore will soon begin taxing homeowners who leave their residences empty for more than half the year as part of the Alberta community's bid to reverse course on an affordability crisis that has made it one of the most expensive places to live in Canada. The new levy, which the town is calling a 'livability tax,' has become a big topic in the small mountain town. Several part-time owners argue it's unfairly punishing faithful property taxpayers while others say the growing number of weekenders have hollowed out Canmore's community feel. 'This is not an attack on second homeowners,' Canmore Mayor Sean Krausert said in an interview. The Court of King's Bench this week ruled that Canmore is within its rights to move forward with the tax next year, which will divide residences into sub-classes so it can tax mostly vacant homes at higher rates. A group of residents and developers had argued it was outside the town's authority. Story continues below advertisement 1:51 Canmore housing crisis leads to debate over employees living in industrial areas. According to the town, the tax will charge the average part-time homeowner more than $6,300 a year, while full-time residents will pay about $2,100 annually in property taxes. To avoid the tax, a home will need to be occupied by owners or renters for 183 days a year, of which 60 days are continuous. Get daily National news Get the day's top news, political, economic, and current affairs headlines, delivered to your inbox once a day. Sign up for daily National newsletter Sign Up By providing your email address, you have read and agree to Global News' Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy Krausert speaks of dark windows and quiet streets when he thinks about how the town has changed over the past two decades. The median assessed value for a single-family home in Canmore was more than $1 million in 2024, and about a quarter of Canmore homes are owned by part-time residents, according to the town. 'That has an impact on the look and feel of different neighbourhoods,' Krausert said of the town's volume of part-time homeowners. The levy will raise about $12 million annually, to be used for local affordable housing projects, he said. Story continues below advertisement The bylaw has stirred up hard feelings among Canmore homeowners who split their time in the mountain town and elsewhere. One group, Fair Future Canmore, has argued the tax unfairly targets faithful longtime taxpayers and won't improve the town's affordability problems. 'The lack of leadership shown by Town Council and their willingness to pit residents against each other demonstrates a real need for change,' Stephen Ross, one of the individuals who challenged the bylaw in court, wrote in a statement for the group in response to this week's court ruling. 2:03 Workers struggle to find housing in Banff and Canmore Ron Casey, mayor of Canmore for 11 years through the late '90s and 2000s, said his council was close to implementing a similar tax more than a decade ago. While he supports taxing non-primary homeowners, he said the town isn't currently accountable to how the money is spent. 'There's nothing that ties this, so what prevents this from being a yearly tax grab by the municipality?' Casey said. 'That's (homeowners') fear. No one that I talk to has any objection to paying their fair share.' Story continues below advertisement In recent weeks, angry property owners have flooded the opinion pages of Bow Valley's local newspaper to voice their frustration. Krausert said the bylaw has been antagonized by an organized, 'well-funded' group encouraging members to write letters to the local paper. He believes a 'silent majority' of Canmore locals support the town's plan. 'This is not an organic thing. This is a very calculated and strategic thing, and the vast majority of residents of Canmore see it for what it is,' he said of the letters. British Columbia and Toronto have implemented similar taxes in recent years that tax homeowners for leaving their residences empty. 2:05 Provincial rules stand in way of more empty homes taxes in B.C. Bruce Dalton, a pharmacist from Calgary who spends weekends in Canmore, said he's comfortable paying the tax. And he is not sympathetic to those who say the tax will cause serious financial pain. Story continues below advertisement 'That feels kind of hollow to me,' said Dalton, 61. The town had originally planned for the tax to begin this year, but the judge overseeing the court challenge said Canmore will have to wait until 2026 to start collecting the levy.
CBC
15-11-2024
- CBC
Canmore's recreational properties selling for an average $1.67 million: report
After heating up for the past year, Canmore's recreational property prices will rise even further in the next 12 months, a new Royal LePage report projects. The median price of a single-family detached home jumped 4.4 per cent in the first nine months of this year to $1.67 million, and is projected to increase another 3.5 per cent in the next 12 months, according to Royal LePage's 2024 Winter Recreational Property Report. The report also found the price of standard condos in the town rose 9.8 per cent in that same time period, to $765,000. Canmore's thriving housing market saw this increase even as the report found housing prices in winter recreational properties in towns across British Columbia, including Whistler and Sun Peaks, dropped last year. For the six B.C. towns included in the report, the median price of a single-family detached house and a standard condo both dropped 2.6 per cent. Canmore prices are being driven up by two main factors, high demand and low supply, influenced by the town's limited land base, according to Royal LePage Solutions associate broker Brad Hawker. "We're between Bow Valley Provincial Park and Banff National Park and mountains on either side, so very limited land base and that's where the markets at," Hawker said. He added the high demand for recreational properties in Canmore is driven by people from Calgary, Edmonton and other Alberta communities, but since the COVID-19 pandemic, the region has also received more interest from people in B.C., Ontario and Quebec. Hawker noted that the community's efforts to appeal more to pedestrians, by becoming more walkable and bike-friendly with lower speed limits for motorists and an improved trail system, has helped encourage new short-term rental projects. He projects more local buyers to move into the market during the first half of 2025, especially if interest rates fall by mid-year. Canmore struggling with home price-out Canmore Mayor Sean Krausert told CBC News that, while the rising price of recreational properties in the town is staggering, it isn't surprising to him. He noted the median assessed value of a single-family Canmore home is currently nearly $1.4 million, and the median assessed value of all residential properties in the town is just over $1 million. "The high cost of land here and the high cost of housing is a considerable issue for our community," Krausert said. "Obviously the average worker in town ... cannot afford those prices." The mayor added it has become increasingly difficult to attract and retain employees due to the high cost of homes in the town, saying there is a strong demand for affordable homes as well as affordable rental properties. "We are taking bold steps to increase the numbers and pace of non-market housing, both ownership and rental, that we will be building over the next number of years," Krausert said. "And we are also requiring that every resident be part of the solution, either by housing a primary resident or paying higher taxes to pay for the affordable housing." Krausert said non-market housing is not subsidized housing, but rather housing that does not appreciate according to market forces and will remain affordable long after it's built. He added Canmore has approved area structure plans and specific developments that over the next five to 10 years are expected to produce more than 2,000 units of non-market housing and nearly 6,000 units of what would be considered entry-level homes. Krausert said failing to act on the housing situation is not an option if his town wants to avoid the fate of other communities similar to Canmore, which have seen the gutting of their residents because of high home prices. "We can take a look at other mountain towns that are tourist destinations to see our future if we don't do anything," he said. "And what happens in those communities is they become enclaves for the very wealthy. You lose young families, you lose schools, you lose professionals." The Canmore mayor said the way home prices are trending, the town is on a path toward becoming a resort bedroom community. "That's not the community that a majority of Canmore residents want." Krausert said while other mountain towns have different tools available to them to control the price of homes and who can buy them, Canmore is unable to implement policies like Banff's need-to-reside rule, which plainly states that, in order to live in Banff, you need to work in Banff. "We also don't have any ability to require a developer-builder to provide a certain amount of affordable housing. That's called inclusionary zoning that is not allowed in Alberta," he said. Canmore has to rely on using taxation and land planning policy to produce affordable housing, according to Krausert. "The bottom line is that there has been nothing introduced to the Canmore market in terms of housing that has remained affordable or accessible past the first owner or two," he said.
