How To Use Property Taxes to Clean Up Your Community
Ashley Salvador is a city councilor in Edmonton, Alberta. She’s a national leader in housing reform, zoning modernization, and urban revitalization. Ashley joins Norm on this Bottom-Up Short to discus one of her recent initiatives, which focuses on reducing the number of derelict and dangerous properties in the city. Ashley shares how she helped bring Canada’s first Derelict Tax Subclass into effect and how it’s driving revitalization.
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Norm Van Eeden Petersman 0:06
Thanks for tuning in to this Bottom-Up Short, I'm Norm with Strong Towns. I've had the privilege of connecting with Strong Towns members over the years, and every so often I find myself thinking, "I've got to introduce this person to a much broader audience," just because of the things that they're doing and how they go about the activities of building strong communities where they live. And that's exactly what these Bottom-Up Shorts are all about: quick introductions to everyday people doing extraordinary things to make their places stronger. Often, these people started with the same questions and doubts that you might have, wondering if they actually have what it takes to build capacity, but they leaned in, and now their stories are proof that meaningful transformation can come from the bottom up. And so if you like what you hear, please let us know. And today, my guest is council member Ashley Salvador of Edmonton, Alberta. She's an urban planner, housing advocate, the founder of YEG Garden Suites, and a former guest on our Bottom-Up Revolution podcast, so we'll link to her previous appearances there, as well as leading a webcast on parking reform and and writing Strong Towns articles and just contributing in so many different ways. Ashley is doing all sorts of things, from her position on city council but also in her position and status as someone living in a community, caring about it and improving it as we go. And so today, you'll hear how Ashley has helped to spark change in Edmonton, how she's combining her professional expertise with grassroots organizing to open up more housing opportunities in the city and to address an issue that's creates many struggles in her community: problem properties. I'm so glad that Ashley shared this with us, and I'm excited to introduce her to you again. Welcome, Ashley.
Ashley Salvador 1:45
Thank you so much for having me. Really excited to be here.
Norm Van Eeden Petersman 1:47
Yeah, it's great. I was just sharing in the intro just how much I've been geeking out that I get to chat with Ashley Salvador. I want to start with something that has been maybe under the radar for a lot of people. This is the idea that Edmonton has taken to really address problem properties that are a blight within the neighborhood in a clear and compelling way without turning a blind eye to what's going on. Why don't you dive right in? What is a problem property, and what is Edmonton doing that other places can take note of?
Speaker 1 2:21
Yeah, absolutely. So when we're talking about problem properties, we're really thinking about properties that are causing a bit of a risk and hazard in our communities. Not just properties that have maybe a shabby appearance or some unkept grass, but properties that are oftentimes uninhabited, vacant, derelict, and again posing a risk, whether it is fire or pulling on our bylaw services as well, and creating a lot of demand. Now here in the city of Edmonton, we have recently taken a much stronger approach to problem properties and a comprehensive approach as well. We are holding property owners accountable through a variety of mechanisms, which I'm sure we'll get into in a little bit, and we're seeing really excellent results. In a number of the communities that I represent, we were seeing structure fires happening on an incredibly frequent and alarming basis, where these dilapidated properties were being set on fire, sometimes damaging neighboring properties, and it was a really scary situation for our communities. We've seen a 30% reduction in structure fires since this program has been implemented, as well as demolitions and actually redevelopment into new homes, which is wonderful to see.
Norm Van Eeden Petersman 3:32
From the Strong Towns perspective, when you're thinking about how to invest in a community, but also how to use resources carefully, we say "Notice where people are struggling, and then try to identify what is the next smallest thing that can be done to address that." You've done that in the form of legislation, which is a bit more of an undertaking. But I love that it says "There is something very clear that people are struggling with in this neighborhood." These properties are creating unsafe conditions for people on the street, people within adjacent properties, all of those types of things. Can you describe a little bit more about the presenting conditions and then what it is that the the new bylaw or other structures you've set up to bring about that change?
Ashley Salvador 4:21
Yeah, absolutely. So maybe a bit of background and context first. When I was elected in 2021, I was hearing very loud and clear from residents in the area that I represent that the number of fires that they were seeing was terrifying. Hundreds of fires were happening in these communities, and it wasn't on my radar necessarily to to take the lead and champion problem properties. It wasn't necessarily on my platform. So this really was a bottom-up call from community for stronger action and for help. So that very first motion I made as a counselor was around asking, "What tools do we have in our toolbox as a city, as a municipality, that we can really leverage to make some meaningful change in our neighborhoods?" And arising from that body of work were a few things. One that I'm really pleased about is a brand new team called the Community Property Safety Team. And that team uses our fire code and building code to get our fire rescue services in proactively to secure these vacant and derelict properties. So instead of waiting for the owner and asking nicely for them to clean things up, which often doesn't work, our teams go in. They will put up fencing, they will board the properties. And it's an escalating model enforcement going all the way to requiring 24/7 security on site, and all of that is at the expense of that property owner. So as you can imagine, that adds up fairly quickly and incentivizes property owners to either clean up, redevelop, or sell to someone who will. And that's exactly what we've been seeing. The other really exciting piece that has come out of this body of work is Canada's very first derelict tax subclass. And what the city of Edmonton has done is we've created a tax subclass category for derelict properties. And that allows us to charge three times the regular residential tax rate for these properties in recognition that they are drawing on more emergency services, bylaw services, compliance, fire rescue. And again, that is creating noticeable differences in the number of these properties that are around our city.
Norm Van Eeden Petersman 6:36
I mean, I'm fascinated by that. And I shared with Ashley too, that when I've given presentations on housing and brought up what Edmonton is doing, other people are snapping pictures of the slides and trying to track down information about it because they said, "This is something that we're dealing with in our community as well." And I think it speaks to the way in which many of our council members, particularly when they are concerned to be a great representative of the community, are going to actually say "This issue might not have been on my radar first, but now that you've put it on my radar, and I see how clearly it is providing an impact upon our communities. Let's do something about that." You know, you tax at a three times multiple but probably the service cost for those properties is significantly higher. And I love that spirit of doing something about it. I would also recommend, if you're listening to this, go check out Ashley's webcast that she did on Open Option Parking, addressing open parking requirements within the city of Edmonton. Even before she was on city council, she was taking other steps like this. But Ashley, can you share a little bit about how you got a seat at the table, what that development of your skills as well as your presence within the community has looked like and maybe to help chart a course for a few other folks that want to follow in similar footsteps?
Ashley Salvador 7:47
Sure. Yeah. So I was elected in 2021. Prior to that, I was in the advocacy space. So I've always been a city planning nerd. I do have a degree in urban planning and sustainability of sociology. I have always been fascinated by cities as our human habitat, and how we can, together as a community, make that habitat the best possible place to live and thrive and grow. My previous advocacy was primarily around land use and zoning, so I did a lot of work in the housing space. The non profit that I founded, YAG Garden Suites, we worked to open up the bylaw to allow garden suites citywide. They were primarily allowed on corner lots in very strict locations. So we opened that up in, of course, collaboration with excellent planners at the city of Edmonton who were keen to expand housing options within our communities. So that kind of gave me a taste for municipal politics, and got me really interested in change-making at the local level. Through that work, I started to question, "Where can I have the most impact? Is it from the advocacy side, which I loved, or maybe it's on the other side of the table as a decision maker?" So we ran a pretty bold campaign that I think is really rooted in a lot of Strong Towns principles, and rallied around that, had amazing volunteers, amazing supporters, and that's how I was elected.
Norm Van Eeden Petersman 9:17
Yeah, and you're up for re election as well. So continuing at the table, continuing to seek a place there. What is it that motivates you to continue to be at the table in this format or capacity?
Ashley Salvador 9:31
Yeah. I mean, I absolutely love this work. I love local government. It is the level of government that is closest to the people. It's on the ground, you are in the community you serve, and that's really special to me. I also go back to my background in sustainability, and I think about how the decisions we make today can have lasting impacts for generations to come, and that excites me. I think about how the way that we build our city today is going to either ensure that we are fiscally sustainable, environmentally sustainable, healthy, thriving or, if we don't course correct from historic growth patterns, things are going to be pretty tough. So being able to have that line of sight and that long term vision, it's really evident at the local level. So that's the kind of work that I want to continue doing.
Norm Van Eeden Petersman 10:23
For folks that are listening, as you as a council member are seeking to be deeply engaged with your community, what are some of the traits and characteristics and sort of invitations that you would offer to people within their communities? When they're trying to reach their council members or connect with them, provide them with sort of eyes on the ground, what are some of the traits of someone that you say, "Wow, this person has been so helpful to me as a constituent or a resident within the community"?
Ashley Salvador 10:51
Yeah, absolutely. I mean, I think there's, of course, varying levels of engagement that folks have in our neighborhoods, but I would say a curiosity about how we can work together to make things better. That's really foundational to the kinds of changes that we're making. Also being able to identify tangible problems and what those pain points are in our neighborhoods, and what is within our control. The ability to ask "What is within that municipal toolbox that we can act on now? What small steps can we take today that can actually have an outsized impact to better the health and well being of our neighborhoods? And what is beyond our toolbox where we can collectively advocate together and bring our voices together so that other levels of government can really hear us?"
Norm Van Eeden Petersman 11:37
Yeah, I love that, and maybe one way to sum it is "Be curious, not cantankerous." And the benefits of that approach are that council members become more encouraged, city staff begin to realize that there's a pocket of really interesting and engaged individuals that are really willing to like work with this. We've certainly seen that with our Local Conversation groups. If they show up with with a smile and a positive vision of what they want the community to be, that really opens up new doors and new vantage points. There's a deepening level of trust, there's a deepening level of willingness to consider new ideas, not just from an isolated individual, but over time, from a movement of people sort of beginning to take that up. And I love that encouragement too at the local level is the greatest opportunity for collaboration to occur. That feels very hopeful. But I'd love to ask the question that we close our episodes with, which is, "What is it that gives you hope?"
Ashley Salvador 12:32
I mean, that's a good one, as you just described. A lot of things give me hope. I think about the stories that I hear from Edmontonians and the people that I serve when I'm out door knocking, when I'm spending time in community. When I think about how how aligned we are, generally speaking, about the type of city we want to build. We want to build a city that is a great place to call home, where we can raise our kids, where we can retire, and where we can thrive. And I think knowing that there is that unified vision gives me a lot of hope. How we get there and what that looks like exactly, that's where we get to have those those conversations, and that's where we can bring our creative thoughts to the table, and we can navigate that together. But knowing that there is that general vision gives me a lot of hope. And I would also say being able to point to things like the Problem Properties Initiative, where a problem came up, we acted on it, and now we're seeing tangible results. Sort of full circle. Those types of initiatives give me a lot of hope too. I think that's how we start to build trust with community as well. They can see that they are being taken seriously by their local governments and their local representatives. And that's just one example. How can we expand that? What other problems can we solve together?
Norm Van Eeden Petersman 13:52
And I feel like when it's the staff, the council, and the residents taking up that charge, the consequence is that more and more people are saying, "Oh, Edmonton is doing really interesting things." And I've actually had conversations with folks from Edmonton who've said, "Wait, Edmonton? You know, we're talking about the city that I live in?" You know, folks that have a shirt that says "Yes, I'm still in Edmonton." But that mentality is shifting, and I love that. Maybe, do you want to close with a word of encouragement to folks that perhaps have bought the t shirt "Yes, I'm still in Edmonton" that actually there's so much more to know and to love and to engage with within the community?
Ashley Salvador 14:31
Absolutely. Edmonton is an unassuming leader when it comes to things like forward thinking planning reform. We were one of the first cities in the country to eliminate parking minimums. We have one of the most forward-thinking zoning bylaws today, I would say. Things like the Problem Property initiative. We have a spirit and kind of a grittiness to us here in Edmonton. We can come together, and we can solve things. And I love that about our city. I love that you can come together, you can be a young person like myself, and you can be taken seriously, and you can get things done alongside equally passionate people who want to move our city forward.
Norm Van Eeden Petersman 15:16
I love that. I think it just underscores the reality that when you love your place, it will love you back. And you will increasingly find more and more things that not only call up for your attention, but also develop and create that feeling of affection for the community, warts and all. But really with the eye of "We can, together, improve this." Thank you so much, Ashley, for being on this episode of Bottom-Up Shorts. To all of the folks that are out there, just continue to look around, as Ashley has done now with a seat at the city council table. What is it under the hood within our communities that we can address together? What are the things that we are struggling with that we can actually begin to make progress on? Because surely there are so many that are far closer or more within reach than we sometimes first think. And I just appreciate the way that Ashley has pointed that out over years now through writing for Strong Towns and other organizations, but also leading from within the community. So appreciate your time on Bottom-Up Shorts. To all the folks that are out there, take care and take care of your places.
ADDITIONAL SHOW NOTES
More from Ashley:
“Cleaning Up Our Communities: Canada’s First Derelict Tax Subclass a Success”
“Will Edmonton Be the First Major Canadian City to Eliminate Parking Minimums?”
“Want more local businesses in your neighborhood? Then legalize ‘Accessory Commercial Units.’”
“The Bottom-Up Revolution is... Building Gentle Density and a Grassroots Campaign for City Council”
Norm Van Eeden Petersman (LinkedIn)
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