You made me go look and I think you're wrong. It wasn't a silver bullet (shocker!) but it did add 18,000 units to the rental market in 2019 and 2020 and raised $231 million in tax revenue that was used to support affordable housing developments.
https://news.gov.bc.ca/files/SVT_Annual_Mayors_Consultation_...
By what metric? I'm not sure that's accurate [0]. It looks like the vacancy rate has seen a steady decline and the money raised ($86.6m) helped Community Housing Incentive Program (CHIP) and Land Acquisition/Development opportunities.
[0] https://vancouver.ca/files/cov/vancouver-2021-empty-homes-ta...
> Vancouver continues to experience the lowest rental vacancy rates and highest rents among Canada’s major cities, making rental housing affordability and availability a significant challenge for those who live and work in Vancouver, and those who would like to in the future. In an effort to address this and increase the supply of rental housing in Vancouver, in 2017, the City of Vancouver introduced the Empty Homes Tax (EHT), also known as the Vacancy Tax.
Turns out having 10 people and 9 homes remains a problem, even if you enact more policies.
They’ve tried everything, except build enough homes. I’m under the impression this is the popular modern across North America