Why Austin Should Ditch Parking Mandates
Parking mandates require Austin’s builders and homeowners to provide a certain amount of onsite parking, depending on the building’s location, size, and type.
Although parking mandates might seem reasonable, after decades we now see the harm they’ve caused.
The problem? Parking mandates have forced Austinites to build more parking than we really need.
As a result, here’s what’s happened:
We’ve created so much space for parking that there’s not enough land for other things we care about such as housing, local businesses, and compact, walkable neighborhoods. Moreover, the spread-out environment created by parking oversupply forces more people to drive or to struggle without a car.
Parking mandates have made everything more expensive. The costs of excessive parking in places like apartment buildings and grocery stores get passed on in the form of higher rents and more expensive goods and services for everybody, whether or not they use that parking.
Parking Mandates = Bad Math
Findings from studies around the US on parking mandates suggest similar impacts in Austin
Parking mandates reduced apartment building units by roughly 13%.
Parking: Issues and Policies (2014)
Parking is associated with a $56,000 per unit increase in construction costs.
Garage parking included with housing costs renters around $1,700 a year.
Access (2017)
Average construction cost of one space in a parking structure is higher than the entire median net worth of 50%+ of all Black and Hispanic households.
Bloomberg (2019)
Parking mandates raised housing costs by 13% for families without cars.
Bloomberg (2019)
Parking spaces can raise the amount of CO2 emitted per mile by up to 10% for an average car.
Science X (2010)
Parking Mandates Impact Real People
Austin’s parking mandates have had many unintended consequences.
Here are four common examples of mandates’ impacts on every day Austinites.
Fewer Affordable Housing Units
An affordable housing project has to turn people away because of fewer units.
Without parking mandates consuming valuable space, the project could have included more units and accommodated more residents who are struggling to find housing.
An Aging Parent Can’t Move In
A family gives up on trying to convert a garage into a small residence for an aging parent.
Parking mandates would have required them to add more parking to the property when there’s not enough space and the family can’t afford it.
A Local Restaurant Closes
A local restaurant closes down because of having to provide too much parking.
Austin’s parking mandates have forced many local businesses to dedicate three times as much land to parking as to the businesses themselves, meaning less productive space and lower profits.
How Austin Will Benefit From Ditching Parking Mandates
Eliminating parking mandates will mean less space wasted on excessive parking, meaning more land for housing and more walkable, compact neighborhoods.
1. More Homes
More housing units
Less expensive homes and lower rents
Less homelessness
2. Better Transportation
Less traffic and shorter commutes
More transit and better walking and bicycling
3. More Pleasant Places
More walkable neighborhoods
Quieter neighborhood streets
Fewer large parking lots and strip malls
4. A Stronger Economy
More local businesses
More local builders able to participate in construction
More affordable goods and services
5. A Healthier Environment
More green space and less impervious cover
Better air quality
Reduced heat island effects
6. Better Government
Fewer arbitrary government regulations
Less red tape makes housing projects quicker and easier to build