San Diego Councilmember Sean Elo-Rivera is reviving his proposal to levy a hefty tax on the owners of empty second homes, but in a major reversal, has abandoned his original plan to tax short-term rentals as well.
His revised proposal, which calls for an annual levy of $8,000 that would later escalate to $10,000, will be heard on Wednesday by the City Council’s rules committee. That same body just last month rejected a more encompassing measure that would have also taxed whole-home vacation rentals that are not the resident’s primary home. That has now been excised from Elo-Rivera’s new plan, which would go before voters this June if the full City Council agrees to place it on the ballot.
Elo-Rivera explained the change in direction, stating that it is “a strategic pivot not away from our values, but toward faster, more focused action. We are advancing a targeted measure that addresses one clear driver of our housing crisis: homes being kept vacant during a housing shortage.”
Such homes are ones that are largely empty throughout the year and aren’t being rented long term. More specifically, they are properties that are left vacant for more than 183 days per calendar year. Elo-Rivera’s office estimates that there are 5,115 such properties that are not claimed as a primary residence.
He estimates that the tax, if approved by voters, would potentially generate as much as $51 million if all of those vacation homes were to pay the tax. As part of the tax plan, surcharges of $4,000 in 2027 and $5,000 in 2028 would be imposed on corporate-owned homes.
“Any addition of housing stock to the market, whether resulting from new construction or owners of empty homes choosing to make those homes available to San Diegans, helps relieve pressure on the housing stock and slows the increasing cost of housing,” Elo-Rivera’s staff report states.
Elo-Rivera’s original proposal proved extremely divisive and drew hundreds of people on both sides of the issue to a five-hour hearing that focused largely on the short-term rental portion of the proposed ballot measure. When council committee members rejected it, Elo-Rivera sought to salvage his plan by limiting the vacation rental portion of the measure to only those rentals that are corporate-owned. That too failed.
Airbnb, which raised $2.5 million from an existing political action committee it had formed in anticipation of fighting the proposal, said after the hearing it was thankful for the decision, noting that “this tax does more harm to San Diegans than good.”
It’s unknown at this time whether the home sharing platform will remain opposed to the new proposal. It is not entirely clear as to whether the second home proposal could potentially affect vacation rentals.
The San Diego Regional Chamber of Commerce was equally relieved last month by the committee decision, stating that council members recognized “that adding new costs without clear outcomes worsens affordability challenges.”
Chamber president Chris Cate said Friday that he was holding off commenting on Elo-Rivera’s revised proposal for now, given that it’s new and the chamber needs to take time to evaluate it and go through its normal process before considering whether to take a position.
Elo-Rivera, in an emailed statement, said he believes that his proposed ballot measure would help return many unoccupied housing units to the rental and ownership market.
“This measure creates a simple and fair choice: rent the home, sell the home or contribute fairly to the impacts of keeping housing off the market,” he said. “It is focused, it is urgent, and it reflects a broad understanding that vacant homes during a housing crisis are part of the problem.”
The proposal does include some room for exemptions, such as disaster periods when a home is uninhabitable, circumstances where the owner is in long-term care, a family member is living in the home, financial hardship,and qualifying military service.