Will 2024 Be the Year Cities Finally Ditch Parking Minimums?

What if the one of the biggest reasons for poverty and homelessness in cities wasn’t a lack of money or ballooning health care costs, but rather the longstanding real estate mandate for ample parking spaces? One of the most eye-opening books I considered for our book awards program this year was Paved Paradise, which suggested that unnecessarily high zoning requirements for parking were the single biggest factor preventing more affordable housing.

This week an NPR article suggested that perhaps this year might finally be the one where more cities rethink this prioritization of parking at the expense of more livable and equitable communities. Austin just became the biggest city in the country to throw out it’s parking minimums, joining San Jose, Anchorage, Gainesville and more than 50 others. It’s a topic that divides people and councils, but one that may be showing signs of finally shifting.