It's Time To Repeal Parking Mandates
August 22, 2024
The City of Fort Collins requires that builders include new off-street parking spaces with every new home and business. There is no such thing as free parking.
The City of Fort Collins requires that builders include new off-street parking spaces with every new home and business. These local government minimum parking requirements are designed to exceed demand so there are always empty spaces, which needlessly increases costs for everyone.
There is no such thing as free parking. Building a single parking space typically costs between $9,000 and $50,000. To recover those costs, builders incorporate them into the price of goods, services, and housing. These mandates have increased average rents by an estimated $225 per month.
For affordable housing projects, where rent is capped as a share of income, excessive parking mandates mean projects sacrifice housing for parking. At $35,000 per structured parking space, developers could build 1 affordable home for the cost of 8 new spaces. Rental and low-income households often pay for parking that they don’t need or want. For example, 53% of low-income households near transit don’t own a vehicle, yet most municipalities mandate 1.5 to 2.5 parking spaces per unit.
