Removing parking minimums would be a win for housing affordability

The Greater Golden Horseshoe is facing an affordability crisis: Rising rent and mortgages are causing strain on many families’ finances. Government and the development industry need to act quickly and cooperatively to increase housing supply. One conceivable way to help is by eliminating mandatory minimum parking requirements. Based on research and case studies from other jurisdictions, we know that parking requirements reduce housing affordability and the development feasibility for new homes. The cost of building parking is high, and it is often oversupplied.

Parking minimums were introduced decades ago to ensure that new developments had plentiful parking as the car began to dominate cities in the mid-20th century. More recently however, there has been a policy shift towards more sustainable travel options and denser developments centred on public transit and walkability.

Oversupply of parking

It is time for us to rethink mandating parking requirements for residential developments. Cities across North America are now vastly reducing or outright eliminating mandated parking, as people own fewer cars and desire to live in more urban environments. For example, in 2020, the City of Edmonton eliminated parking minimums and has not seen any negative impacts resulting from this change. Developers continue to provide parking when needed to meet their consumer demand, but are not overproviding parking when the market dictates it is not necessary. This has resulted in building enough parking to meet demand, but not requiring the developers and new-home buyers to pay for an oversupply of parking spaces.

The cost of mandated parking is high; a single parking space can cost more than $100,000 to build. This cost is passed on to the purchaser or renter of the home. Far worse, in some cases, the additional cost of providing the required parking spots results in developments not being feasible to build. Not only do parking mandates increase the cost of housing, but they can also reduce our overall housing supply potential – at a time where we need to dramatically increase it. If we are to address housing affordability, we need to rethink mandated minimum parking requirements. Where it makes sense to build, and there is consumer demand, builders will continue to provide parking. Where it does not make sense, there will not be a mandatory requirement in place that increases the cost to provide housing.

More affordable communities

In the future, as we increase local transit options, promote sustainable transportation choices, and strive to intensify and redevelop our cities, we must explore removing mandatory minimum parking requirements in cities across the region. By eliminating mandated parking minimums for new development, we can create more vibrant, active, walkable, transit-friendly and more affordable communities.