Industry News
[South Lake Tahoe, Calif.] May 15, 2024 – The El Dorado County Registrar of Voters has verified the 2,471 signatures submitted by Locals for Affordable Housing were sufficient to qualify the citizen’s initiative for the November ballot. The local grassroots effort submitted more than double the 1,159 signatures required to get on the November 2024 ballot.
Over 85 volunteers in South Lake Tahoe successfully gathered nearly 2,500 signatures to get on the ballot. Locals for Affordable Housing attributes their success to broad community support for the initiative, which aims to raise funding for affordable housing and incentivize occupancy of the more than 7,000 homes that now sit vacant for more than half the year in the City of South Lake Tahoe.
“Since January, we connected with thousands of community members outside local grocery stores and in neighborhoods across the City, and were met with widespread support and gratitude that something was being done to address the skyrocketing cost of housing,” said Nick Speal, co-founder of Locals for Affordable Housing, the non-profit organization leading the ballot initiative. “The housing crisis has reached a tipping point, with locals forced to leave the community due to a critical shortage of affordable housing.”
Despite the construction of more than 2,200 new housing units, the increase in vacant second homes has outpaced all housing construction since 2000, leaving South Lake Tahoe with 317 fewer homes for residents and the local workforce, according to Census data.“Our community knows that now is the time for solutions,” said Speal. 2022 US Census data indicates that 7,150 houses (44% of all housing units) in South Lake Tahoe sit vacant most of the year while local residents struggle to find housing. The number of vacant houses is up 56% since 2000 and has outpaced construction of all new homes in the same timeframe.
Advocates cite that if only 20% of the 7,150 vacant homeowners in South Lake Tahoe shift to rent or sell to residents, it will add over 1,400 new homes for the local community – more than have been built in the last ten years – while simultaneously generating over $34 million per year. As a dedicated use tax, these funds can be used only for local housing, road infrastructure, and transit – South Lake Tahoe’s most critically underfunded needs.
“We are thrilled we’ll be able to vote on this common sense initiative as a community this fall,” said Amelia Richmond, the other co-founder of Locals for Affordable Housing. “If it passes in November, the Vacancy Tax will introduce an annual fee ONLY on houses that sit unoccupied for the majority of the year – shifting incentives and creating a local funding source to fill the houses, fix the roads, and make sure South Lake Tahoe remains a vibrant, thriving community for all.”
The campaign is now fundraising for the November 2024 election. Those interested in joining the movement for affordable housing in Lake Tahoe can donate at www.TahoeVacancyTax.com/donate.
