Empty homes should be taxed — or put to use

Re Toronto shouldn’t sleep on taxing vacant homes, Dec. 8

There’s little doubt that the large number of homes sitting vacant is part of what is making this city unaffordable, and contributing to homelessness. I suggest that there be two tiers of vacancy tax. The higher tier would be for those owners who insist on their units remaining vacant. The revenue could be used to to create housing for the homeless, or for rent subsidies. A lower tier would be for those owners who would allow the city to use their units to house the homeless or rent them out as subsidized housing. Some of the tax revenue could be used to repair any damage that would result from the units being occupied.

Ellen Morrow, Toronto