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The greatest number of vacancies is in soma. The neighborhood that emptied out during the pandemic. Soma was startup central. It has been a ghost town since march 2020. I suspect a lot of startup people moved out of the city. I imagine it is quite tough to get those places rented since there’s negligible demand. Everyone is probably hoping return to work will bring companies back. I suspect we’ll never get back to where we were.

A vacancy tax would probably incentivize landlords to drop rents which could be a great thing.

If government makes eviction more expensive and risky then the cost of vacant property, the owners will choose the cheaper option.
People will pay a future tax to not live there.

Maybe the city should force property managers on people that don't want to bother with renting out and maintenance, and add a lien to the property the longer the property manager is not paid. There, housing issue further chiseled at.