South Lake Tahoe voters on Tuesday defeated a controversial measure to tax second homes. El Dorado County posted election results at midnight that showed 73.83% of voters said no to Measure N.
Measure N, also known as the vacancy tax, would have taxed homeowners who spend less than 182 days of the year in South Lake Tahoe as much as $6,000 annually.
Proponents of Measure N said the tax would have raised millions of dollars to help South Lake Tahoe solve its housing crisis while also shifting market incentives to unlock vacant homes for local residents. Opponents criticized Measure N as unfairly targeting second homeowners.
On Tuesday, Nov. 5, the voting center at Lake Tahoe Community College saw a steady stream of voters arrive to cast their ballots. At one corner of the crowded parking lot, both campaigns staged a presence — holding signs, talking to voters, saying hello to friends and neighbors.
South Lake Tahoe City Councilmember Tamara Wallace, a vocal critic of Measure N, stood on the curbside, under a large tree, with several other community members who opposed the vacancy tax. The fight over the measure created a bitter divisiveness in the community, Wallace said. The battle took place both online and in person. About a dozen community members who’d posted “Vote No on Measure N” signs in front of their homes received threatening messages, she said.
“It’s super divisive. And you know what, believe what you believe,” Wallace said. “Just be nice about it.”
Her husband, Duane Wallace, who is the director of the South Tahoe Chamber of Commerce, said he organized the opposition movement against Measure N because he believes the tax was not fair.
“It offended my sense of fairness. Just because somebody has something and you don’t doesn’t give you a right to take it,” Duane said.
With hours still to go until the polls closed, Duane expressed confidence that Measure N would be defeated.
“We’re going to resoundingly crush this measure,” he said.
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The opposition campaign raised more than $1 million to defeat Measure N. Contributions came from individuals and real estate groups. In August, the National Association of Realtors contributed $625,000 to the No on Measure N campaign. The California Association of Realtors contributed more than $300,000. The influx of spending to defeat Measure N could be seen clearly in the sheer number of political signs opposing the vacancy tax that were posted along Highway 50 and in front of local businesses.
Yet, those in favor of the vacancy tax remained high-spirited, despite the onslaught of funding against their efforts. At the entrance to the community college, two women waved signs calling for a more vibrant town and asking voters to say “yes” to the vacancy tax.
At the back corner of the parking lot, just a few steps behind the “No on Measure N” group, proponents of the vacancy tax set up their own table and signs with their motto, “Vibrant not Vacant.” Amelia Richmond and Nick Speal, who founded the group Locals for Affordable Housing and organized the effort to put the vacancy tax on the ballot, stood out front, in puffy jackets with “I voted” stickers. Proponents of the vacancy tax have also experienced online trolling and vitriol. Still, both Richmond and Speal described the last months and weeks they spent working the campaign with optimism.
“The past few weeks have been a bit of a rush, trying to reach as many people as we could,” Speal said.
On Election Day, they arrived at the community college early to greet people coming to vote.
“A lot of people have stopped by saying thank you, which has been really cool,” Speal said. “Just seeing a lot of friends enjoying the privilege of getting to vote.”
No matter the outcome of the vote, Speal said that thousands of people are saying they want more to be done to solve Tahoe’s housing crisis.
“We’ve been knocking on hundreds of doors and talking to people on the phone, hearing what their priorities are,” Speal said. He was also running for a seat on the city council, though initial election results indicate the seat will be taken by his opponent, David Jinkens.
People are exasperated with local government officials who talk about solving housing problems every election cycle, only to have the status quo remain, Speal said, adding: “And yet, here we are, housing costs are out of control.”
Speal said he spoke with an older woman earlier who lives in a converted hotel room that’s part of a city-managed housing program.
“You’ve got tourists staying in houses and locals living in hotels,” he said.
More than 7,700 houses in South Lake Tahoe are empty most of the year, according to a report compiled by city staff in June. That’s about 48% of the city’s total housing stock.
After the election, Richmond is planning to remain engaged in dialogues about housing in Tahoe. “There is a housing crisis, there’s a problem, and we need to solve it,” she said.
Walking out of the voting center, South Lake Tahoe resident April Herrera had just cast her ballot. She’s lived in South Lake Tahoe for 40 years and bought her first home here for $89,000.
“I have seen a lot of change in this town, and some good and some bad, and Measure N is bad,” Herrera said.
Herrera has older neighbors who live out of town and visit their second home in Tahoe every once in a while. “I don’t know what would happen to them if they had to pay this ridiculous tax,” she said.
Other voters thought the vacancy tax would help them find housing and be able to stay in South Lake Tahoe, where they work.
“A lot of people from out in the Bay Area came up and bought out all of our housing with their cash offers, and it’s just been way harder for us locals to get our own home,” said James Dominguez, a bartender in South Lake Tahoe. He grew up in Tahoe. “I don’t want to have to move down the hill and have to commute up here for work.”
After the initial election results were posted, the No on Measure N campaign announced its victory in a news release.
“This is a great night for South Lake Tahoe,” said Sharon Kerrigan, co-chair of the Stop the South Tahoe Vacancy Tax, No on Measure N campaign. “Measure N was a horribly flawed and divisive proposal that would have done nothing to address housing challenges in our community, and everything to further acrimony in our community. The voters saw it for what it was and rejected it soundly.”
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Nov 6, 2024
Tahoe Editor
Julie Brown Davis is the Tahoe editor at SFGATE. She has been writing about mountain towns in the Sierra Nevada for more than 15 years. Julie has written for a variety of publications, from the New York Times and Washington Post to Powder Magazine and Tahoe Quarterly, to name just a few. She grew up on Lake Tahoe's West Shore. Her corgi is named Squirrel.
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