📰 What Happened: Parking mandates, like off-street spaces for single-family homes, are driving up housing costs in urban areas with high land prices. These regs often backfire, cutting the number of public parking spaces while upping impervious surface area, which worsens environmental issues. Meanwhile, motorists end up with fewer spaces overall.

🔍 A Closer Look: Most cities require homeowners to provide two off-street parking spaces. But driveways displace public street parking, leading to fewer spaces for everyone. Driveways also increase impervious surfaces, which worsen stormwater management. Public on-street parking is far more flexible, able to serve residents, visitors, and service vehicles.

🧠 Why It Matters: Many cities are starting to take a different approach to eliminate or reduce parking minimums, allowing homeowners and developers to decide how many spaces are needed based on actual demand. This can lower housing costs, reduce environmental harm, and improve the efficiency of public parking spaces.