Page 48 of Hidden Gem
Jason held back his frustrated sigh. She could tell Marnie didn’t believe they had a future.
“See this house on the left”—Jason pointed at his next door neighbour—“the one with the red mailbox?”
“What about it?”
“It’s empty.”
Marnie studied the brick house with dark windows and immaculate front lawn. “Why? Is it on the market?”
“No.” Jason took a breath, trying to control the anger that always stirred when he approached the subject. “It’s been empty for at least three years. A gardening company comes in every two weeks to mow the lawn and tidy up.”
His gaze drifted from the lawns to the white-rimmed bay windows. Such a beautiful, solid house. Such a waste.
Marnie’s eyes darkened. “An investment property?”
“Yeah. I’ve been staring at it the whole time I’ve lived here. I think about it every time I meet people who’re struggling with high rents, homelessness, first home buyers trying to get in the market, kids spending weeks in the hospital every winter, fighting respiratory illnesses because their mouldy, crowded homes are killing them... I know we have a supply issue, it’s true. But we also allow two hundred thousand houses to sit there, empty.”
“Two hundred thousand?” Marnie’s voice rose as she glared at him.
“They’re not all as nice as this one, obviously. And many are in far-flung locations, holiday homes and such. But for a tiny country in the middle of a housing crisis, that number is too high. It’s a disgrace.” He paused to look her in the eye. “And I want to change that.”
She stared back, her mouth slightly ajar, eyes filled with concern. “How?”
“By taxing the owners.”
“Sounds like a great idea.”
“It sounds simple, but in reality, it’s very complicated. It’s particularly hard to determine which houses are actually vacant, and how high the tax needs to be to incentivise the owners to either sell or rent. But even if they don’t, the tax we collect can pay for some local housing developments.”
Marnie poked her head through the gap between the front seats, her eyes shining. “So, how do you plan to do it? I mean, find out which houses are empty and all that?”
Jason bit his lip. “I don’t want to bore you with the details. I mean...” His old mate Nick always laughed and shut him up whenever he sounded too much like a politician.
“No, I want the details,” Marnie insisted, checking the street for any movement. It was empty, so she hopped out of the backseat and joined him in the front.
She was such an enigma. Jason couldn’t resist reaching for her hand. The contact made him feel better. “I’d start with larger cities with the worst housing shortage, like Auckland, Wellington and Tauranga, using data from water meters. If a dwelling has zero water usage, that’s a pretty clear sign of a vacant property.”
“But Hamilton doesn’t have water meters.”
“Not yet. But we’re heading that way.”
“Who’d collect the tax then? The local council?”
“Yes. Although that’s one of the biggest hurdles. The cost of administration would be high. Councils are notoriously slow and difficult to work with, so we’re looking at ways to automate parts of the process, especially the data collection and billing.” He looked up, expecting to see Marnie’s eyes glazed over. Instead, he caught them brighter than ever, golden in the afternoon light.
“I’m sure if you found the right people, a couple of champions from each town who took ownership of the whole thing, that could work. You just need a good team.”
“It doesn’t happen that easily when something is government-mandated. People tend to look for loopholes and grumble about any new tasks or challenges.”
She nodded. “I still love the idea. I hope it works out.”
Jason swallowed. “Yeah. I head the working group that’s investigating this, but Kathleen’s already decided it’s not happening. She asked me to give a statement to that effect next week. Tell everyone that we looked into it, but it won’t work.”
Marnie’s eyes flamed. “Really? Kathleen Rush? How can she do that?”
Jason scratched his chin, trying to smile. “She’s the housing minister. It’s her call.”
“But what if she’s not well enough to make these decisions? It’s not fair to you or anyone else!” Her eyes burned passion that gave Jason pause. Where was this coming from?
