Go See Grandma for Six Months? Astoria Could Bill You $3,000 for It

Picture this. You’ve lived in your Astoria house for twenty years. Your mother overseas gets older, or your grandkids are born in Arizona, so you pack a suitcase and spend six and a half months with family.

You come home. Your house is exactly where you left it.

And under Measure 4-247, on Astoria’s November 3, 2026 ballot, the city could send you a bill for $3,000.

The six-month trap

The measure taxes any home with fewer than 183 days of “qualifying use” in a year. Living there counts, but only if the home is your “Principal Residence.” The measure defines that as a dwelling “maintained as the permanent residence of the Owner or lawful tenant for not less than six months of the calendar year.”

Do the math. If you’re gone 6.5 months, you were home about 5.5. That’s short of six months.

Away for a second year in a row? The bill goes up to $6,000.

The measure does excuse some absences, which it calls “vacancy exclusion periods.” Those cover:

• your own stay in a hospital or care facility
• caring for a family member who is in a hospital or care facility
• military service
• firefighter or emergency service work
• disasters, probate after an owner dies, and permitted rehab work

Look at what isn’t on that list. Visiting family isn’t on it. Caring for a parent in their own home overseas isn’t on it. A long trip home to the country you came from isn’t on it. The only family-care excuse requires a hospital or care facility.

There is a financial hardship exemption. It’s for hardship “beyond an Owner’s control” that kept the home from being used. A planned family visit is hard to fit under that.

To be fair, nobody knows yet exactly how “maintained as the permanent residence” will be read. Does it mean your body was in the house for six months, or that it stayed your legal home while you traveled? The measure doesn’t say. The city manager would write those rules after the vote. Voters are being asked to approve the tax before anyone sees them.

So who’s counting your days?

Astoria isn’t promising to post a guard on your porch. The measure contains no property-inspection provision. Enforcement starts with paperwork.

Every owner, including people who live in their homes full-time, has to file an annual Tax Declaration. The first one, covering 2027, is due April 30, 2028.

If you don’t file, the city can issue an “Estimated Assessment.” The measure lists what it can use for that:

• your utility usage data
• property ownership records
• city licensing and permit records
• “publicly available rental listings or platform records”
• and “other evidence of occupancy, vacancy, or qualifying use”

Stop on that last one. “Other evidence” has no limit written into it. Could it be a neighbor’s tip? Mail piling up? Lights that stay off? The measure leaves it open.

The city can also set a flat default bill for all non-filers “without individualized investigation.”

Lie on your form and the penalty is 100% of the tax, on top of the tax itself. Pay late and add a 10% penalty plus interest.

The measure does include real protections. You can appeal within 30 days to a hearing officer. On appeal, the city has to prove you left the home empty. A tax can’t be upheld just because you didn’t file.

But think about how an honest family is supposed to prove where they were for six months. Utility bills for an empty house look the same whether you’re in Lisbon or the house was abandoned.

Will everyone be treated the same?

On paper, yes. The rules apply to every owner.

In practice, critics have a fair question about who gets flagged. Who has utility bills that dip for months at a time? Who takes long trips back to family in another country? Immigrant families and people with relatives overseas are among the most likely to spend half a year away. A rule built on “other evidence” and complaints can end up enforced on whoever the neighbors notice.

Is that systematic racism? No one has shown that. There’s no record of how the city would enforce a law that doesn’t exist yet. But “will it be applied consistently?” is exactly the question to ask about any measure that counts days, leaves “other evidence” undefined, and hands the details to rules written after the election. Voters can demand answers before November 3:

• Will the city publish the rules for counting “permanent residence” before the tax takes effect?
• Will it accept tips or complaints from neighbors?
• Will it report who gets assessed, so people can see whether enforcement is even?

The other side

Supporters say about 1 in 7 Astoria homes sits empty most of the year, much of it second homes and vacation houses, while working families can’t find a place to live. All the money would go into a Community Housing Fund for affordable and workforce housing. Owners who live in their homes, rent them long-term, or run a licensed short-term rental don’t pay. (That 1-in-7 figure comes from the campaign and hasn’t been independently checked.)

That’s the stated goal: vacation homes, not grandma visits.

But a law is what it says, not what its backers hope. Right now this one says your home has to be your permanent residence “for not less than six months of the calendar year.” So families who spend half the year with relatives should read it before they vote.

Sources

Measure 4-247 full text (definitions of “Principal Residence” and “Taxable Vacancy Conduct”; vacancy exclusion periods; Sec. 10.040 Tax Declaration and Estimated Assessment; Sec. 10.050 penalties; appeals); City of Astoria ballot title notice; Astoria Housing Initiative FAQ.