The filing deadline just passed. If you're operating in one of San Francisco's 32 neighborhood commercial districts and you didn't file, you have a problem. Here's how to fix it.
Cities are testing vacancy taxes, registries, and use-it-or-lose-it ordinances. Districts are deploying incentive programs, activation pilots, and outreach. A cross-section of what is working, what is not, and what the policy landscape looks like heading into 2027.
Baltimore's vacancy tax takes effect in 91 days. The rate structure, the exemptions, and what district managers in Baltimore's managed corridors need to know before the first assessment notices go out.
Vacancy taxes hit commercial property owners in two ways: the direct tax liability, and the assessment impact of reduced income from a vacant storefront. How cities are structuring vacancy tax liability and what it means for your property's assessed value.
The legislative momentum behind commercial vacancy taxes is accelerating. In every city that has deployed one, the districts managing the affected corridors had no formal role in the design. That is an accountability failure — and it is creating tools that work against the districts they were meant to protect.
Baltimore's vacancy tax takes effect July 1, 2026. The Downtown Partnership had no formal role in designing the tax. Two city instruments deploying in the same geography with the district managing that geography on the outside.
Portland City Councilor Sameer Kanal added a note to the FY26 city budget requesting a study of a possible tax or fee on vacant residential and commercial spaces.
Boulder City Council is advancing a vacancy tax proposal while a citizen initiative group collects signatures for a different design.
Baltimore's Vacancy Tax Is Live. Day-Two Reporting.
San Francisco Puts a Pharmacy-Vacancy Tax on the November Ballot
San Francisco's Vacancy Tax, Five Years On: North Beach Halved Its Vacancy Rate
New York's Commercial Vacancy Tax Bills Are Still Sitting in Committee
Portland's Vacancy Tax Study Is Still the Thing to Watch in the Northwest