Minneapolis Votes to Eliminate the Parking Requirement for Many Buildings

Vox has a story on Minneapolis's attempt to increase the amount of housing by attacking parking regulations:

Cities originally created minimum parking requirements because they didn't want residents' cars clogging up street parking. Mandating the construction garages or off-street lots would ensure that didn't happen.

But in practice, parking is an urban real estate amenity that responds to demand just as well as, say, fitness centers or pools. If residents are looking for buildings with parking, developers are free to provide it — and even though the requirement was eliminated in downtown Minneapolis years ago, most developers have continued to do so.

But a strict requirement means that every building has to include parking whether residents want it or not. Typically, the cost of that parking then gets built into the rent. It might not seem like a big deal, but in Washington, DC, the underground spots many developers use to comply with these requirements each cost between $30,000 and $50,000 to build.

This makes housing less affordable — especially for low-income residents who are least likely to own cars in the first place. It also subsidizes driving, spurring further development that's based around the car, such as stores that provide free parking, effectively building its cost into the price of their goods.