Wednesday, March 4, 2026
On Tuesday, March 3rd, San Diego City Council voted on the Empty Homes Tax- a proposal introduced by Councilmember Sean Elo-Rivera of District 9. This tax when first proposed applied to both empty second homes and tier 3 & 4 short-term vacation rentals. The number of homes in the City of San Diego that are entirely utilized for short-term rental usage or empty secondary/vacation homes total to nearly 11,000. This initial proposal would have put forward an annual tax of $8,000 per whole-house vacation rental or empty home (with an additional $4,000 for corporate-owned and repeat code violator units) for consideration on the ballot come June. This iteration had the potential to generate up to $90 million in revenue annually for city services.
Unfortunately, the Empty Second Home and Vacation Rental tax did not pass the rules committee with the short-term rental element included. Despite the tax impacting less than 1% of San Diegans, on Wednesday, January 28th, Rule Committee Councilmembers Raul Campillo of District 7, Vivian Moreno of District 8, and Council President Pro Tem Kent Lee of District 6 all voted no, citing the inclusion of short-term rental units, with Councilmember Sean Elo-Rivera and Council President Joe LaCava of District 1 voting yes. This disappointing outcome was helped along by the Chamber of Commerce and Airbnb’s efforts to kill the proposal. These efforts included misinformation text campaigns as well as paying and bussing people from LA to speak against the item.
Undeterred, Councilmember Elo-Rivera brought the proposal back, clearly understanding the urgency of the housing crisis for San Diegans and the need for substantive action. Following the removal of the short-term rental element, the Empty Second Home Tax will levy an annual tax of $8,000 per whole-empty-home plus $4,000 for corporate-owned second homes beginning in 2027 (an amount that will increase based on inflation and be adjusted for CPI in 2029). This ballot measure passed unanimously through the Rules Committee on Wednesday, February 25th. This proposal also included several exemptions to ensure the tax would only apply to truly empty homes that sit unoccupied for more than 182 days of the year.
Ahead of the proposal being considered by the full council, Councilmember Elo-Rivera, Council President Joe LaCava and Council President Pro Tem Kent Lee, joined by organizers and activists from across the region, held a press conference on the item. Organizations represented included Our Time To Act, Youth Will, Viet Voices, UCSD Poverty Project, Alliance San Diego, Partnership for the Advancement of New Americans, Association of Californians for Community Empowerment, San Diego & Imperial Counties Labor Council, San Diego Education Association, San Diego Housing Federation, PATH, and San Diego City Fire Fighters I.A.F.F. Local 145. At this press conference, speakers spoke to our concern that 1.6% of all homes in San Diego County are unoccupied rental vacation homes/secondary homes, with 5,140 in the City of San Diego alone. Keeping these homes unoccupied creates a negative impact on the housing market, creating false scarcity and avoidable rental increases. As it stands, owners of secondary homes pay no additional tax for their unoccupied homes and in fact profit, using their secondary homes as a tax write off, while rent and cost of living for working class San Diegans increases. This proposed tax will either encourage the sale or long-term rental of these units or potentially generate $30 million annually for critical city services in the face of devastating budget cuts. Either way, this tax is a crucial step towards treating housing as a human right rather than a tool for profit.
After multiple rounds at committee, robust public comment, and councilmember commentary, the Empty Home Tax proposal passed through San Diego City Council 8 to 1, with only Councilmember Raul Campillo voting against following confounding comments about his legal concerns. Our Time To Act and our partners at Youth Will were in attendance at every step of this proposal’s journey, and we are sincerely encouraged to see it move forward.
Councilmember Sean Elo-Rivera thanked youth for our attendance and persistent advocacy on this issue. He spoke to the importance of the community's advocacy on this item saying, “I also want to say thank you to the folks who came down here to share your story, I think you helped ground us in what is at stake today, and I could not help but notice how many young faces we saw here today. The desire to just have a damn chance to live in this city is so strong and we need to encourage that. We need to make folks know that we are trying to give them a . . . chance to live in the city that they love and that they work in. . . I so appreciate you all showing up here and telling your stories. And that's why homes shouldn't be sitting empty during a housing crisis.” The Empty Home Tax’s fate is now in the hands of the voters and will be appearing on the ballot this June 2nd, 2026.
If you would like to read more on this measure, and find additional information about how homes are identified, eligibility and available exemptions, or other questions please see the staff reports from 3/3/26, 2/25/26, and 1/28/26.
If you should have any additional questions or concerns please contact our Executive Director, Nicole Lillie at nicole.lillie@ourtimetoact.org