Los Angeles City Council members have proposed eliminating the parking requirement for new housing developments, a move that is intended to make building new housing cheaper but could further strain street parking.
Councilmembers Bob Blumenfield and Nithya Raman introduced a motion to have city staff “report back to the council about a potential citywide elimination of parking requirements in new developments,” LAist reports.
Such requirements have already been eliminated near transit lines by a state law, but expanding the program citywide could reduce the cost of construction, thereby allowing more housing to be built and for rents to go down.
Parking in Los Angeles, however, is already a hot-button issue for many. Neighborhoods like Koreatown are already known as parking nightmares, and some fear that residents of these new parking-free developments will further strain street parking.
But despite those worries, studies say providing car parking could cost residents thousands of dollars per year, LAist reports.
“A 2020 study from UC Berkeley’s Terner Center for Housing Innovation found that building a parking structure for a new affordable housing project raises construction costs by as much as $38,000 per apartment,” the outlet explained. “Another study found that bundling parking with each unit increases rents for L.A. tenants by about $200 per month.”
Azeen Khanmalek, executive director of affordable housing nonprofit Abundant Housing L.A., put the issue more simply when speaking with LAist.
“We have a critical choice to make,” he said. “Are we going to prioritize housing for cars? Or are we going to prioritize housing for people?”
