What Happens When There Are Fewer Spaces to Park?
Hundreds of cities have cut back parking requirements for real estate projects. That’s led to more housing development, but it has also resulted in backlash from residents.
The parking lot of St. Martin’s Lutheran Church in Austin, Texas, where the surface parking will be redeveloped into affordable housing. Credit... Jordan Vonderhaar for The New York Times
Two billion parking spots dot the country, by some estimates. That’s roughly seven spaces for every car, adding up to an area about the size of West Virginia.
Getting rid of spaces, housing advocates, environmentalists and real estate developers say, can give space to desperately needed housing development and help make cities more walkable and less reliant on cars.
“Having some parking is important,” said Dirk Aulabaugh, head of global advisory services at Green Street, a real estate analytics firm. “But does it need to be what we’ve historically had? I think the answer is no.”
Hundreds of cities and municipalities have rolled back or completely thrown out requirements on real estate projects since the nonprofit organization Strong Towns began keeping track a decade ago. In 2022 alone, 15 of them, including San Jose, Calif., Raleigh, N.C., and Lexington, Ky., repealed their parking rules. In late 2023, Austin became the largest U.S. city to eliminate parking minimums. And in December, New York City lawmakers put policies in place that reduced or eliminated parking requirements for new housing in some parts of the city.
