The City of Hamilton has sent out 6,781 bills to property owners as the municipality seeks to collect funds for the newly imposed Vacant Unit Tax.
The city says that 96 per cent of homeowners submitted occupancy declarations for the 2024 tax year.
That means that of the 178,058 residences in Hamilton, the city did not receive a response from 6,409 of them.
Those 6,409 households have thus been deemed vacant based on no declaration being submitted and will receive a tax bill.
Those households then have 60 days from the billing date listed on their Vacant Unit Tax bill to submit a Note of Complaint.
The city will provide a written Notice of Determination letter within 90 days of receiving all required information and supporting documentation.
If the Notice of Complaint is denied, then homeowners can still file an Appeal within 60 days of the date listed on the Notice of Determination letter.
Appeals will reportedly be completed by a reviewer who was not involved in the original Notice of Complaint submission.
The city will then provide a written decision within 90 days of receiving all required information related to the appeal. Appeal decisions are then final.
Of the 171,649 property owners that declared their status, 372 homeowners declared their properties as vacant and will also receive a bill.
For those homeowners who have declared their property vacant and are on a quarterly payment plan, the first vacant unit tax payment was due on June 30, 2025, and the second payment is due on September 30, 2025.
The City of Hamilton launched the Vacant Unit Tax with the hopes that it would help to increase the housing supply in the municipality by encouraging homeowners to keep their properties occupied rather than vacant.
City Manager Marnie Cluckie said in a press release, “Launching a new program like this is never easy.”
“This high level of participation, [96 per cent], shows just how much people care about tackling the housing shortage. We’re grateful to the community for making year one a success – and we’re ready to keep improving and moving forward together,” she continued.
The Vacant Unit Tax applies to all properties classified as residential under the Municipal Property Assessment Corporation (MPAC), including single-family detached, townhouses, row houses, and multi-family dwellings that were unoccupied for more than 183 days in 2024.
The tax rate is one per cent of the unit’s current assessed value.
Costs associated with implementing the Vacant Unit Tax total $2.6 million, with annual operating expenses past 2025 pegged at $2.2 million per year.
There are concerns that the program might not recoup enough in taxes to make it profitable for the city in the long-term.
Based in Hamilton, he reaches hundreds of thousands of people monthly on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and Twitter. He has been published in The Hamilton Spectator, Stoney Creek News, and Bay Observer. He has also been a segment host with Cable 14 Hamilton. In 2017, he received the Chancellor Full Tuition Scholarship from the University of Ottawa (BA, 2022). He has also received the Governor General’s Academic Medal. He formerly worked in a non-partisan role on Parliament Hill in Ottawa.
