Should cities eliminate minimum parking requirements to lower housing costs?
Requiring a minimum of two parking spots per apartment unit inflates rent by roughly 15% in my city, yet most tenants I know own one car or none. I recently read a study showing that parking minimums add $30,000 to the cost of every new housing unit, which directly worsens the affordability crisis we keep complaining about. If we removed these mandates, developers could build denser, walkable neighborhoods and let the market decide how much parking is actually needed. Isn't it time we stop subsidizing car storage over human housing?