> because politicians will put forth failed policies like rent control or empty unit tax that does not help with the supply at all
Why wouldn't an empty unit tax help supply? Holding a unit empty would be more costly. It would provide a direct financial incentive to rent out the unit. By what reasoning would it not increase the supply of rental units on the market?
Now I could understand if you were to argue that other policies are better, but that's another argument all together. Also laws could be changes to make it easier to evict tenants while simultaneously putting empty unit taxes into place. They are independent policies.
Supply of what though? Housing units or rental units. Make owning rental units too expensive and risky and people will convert those units from rental to owned by simply selling them. Now while the total supply of housing hasn't changed (and might even have increased on the margin), there will be less supply of rental units on the market.
> Now while the total supply of housing hasn't changed (and might even have increased on the margin), there will be less supply of rental units on the market.
But then you’d also have less renters in your scenario because a renter became an owner. Less renters would mean a decrease in demand for rentals. The only situation which hurts buyers and renters is when the unit is left empty to artificially decrease supply.
Why wouldn't an empty unit tax help supply? Holding a unit empty would be more costly. It would provide a direct financial incentive to rent out the unit. By what reasoning would it not increase the supply of rental units on the market?
Now I could understand if you were to argue that other policies are better, but that's another argument all together. Also laws could be changes to make it easier to evict tenants while simultaneously putting empty unit taxes into place. They are independent policies.