Subsidizing Parking Garages

When a new apartment building went up in the neighborhood, it didn’t take long for the complaints to start. At the center of the backlash: the building was approved with no parking included.

There are plenty of good reasons to remove parking requirements — especially in a city like San Diego, where housing costs have skyrocketed since the pandemic. Making it easier for developers to build new housing should be a priority. By eliminating parking requirements, developers can maximize the use of limited space, lower construction costs, and ultimately create more affordable housing units. This flexibility allows for faster development and a better allocation of resources, helping to address the city’s housing shortage more effectively.

But at the same time, the concerns are understandable.

People have cars. And while we should be working to reduce car dependency and increasing housing supply, the reality is that people do, and will continue to, own personal vehicles for the foreseeable future.

Publicly funding parking garages could offer a practical solution. There are several reasons to consider this approach:

• Bridge the Gap Between Urbanists and Residents.
  Removing the requirement for parking in new buildings deepens the divide between
  neighborhood citizens and those advocating for denser, more walkable cities. In many cases, it seems to be creating more people opposed to responsible city development—people who might otherwise support new housing.
• Reclaim Street Space for Better Uses
  We could reallocate space that’s currently used for parking. Instead of strips of parking along the sides of streets, we could have small parks, walking paths, and restaurant patios. All of this becomes more possible with more parking garages.
• Treat Parking as (Responsible) Infrastructure
  We have always invested in city utilities that make if possible to provide housing to citizens. Funding parking garages just does it more responsibly. Instead of using tax-payer money to build more freeways, roads, and streets, which just makes for more sprawl, let’s instead invest that money in garages, where the result would be higher density and walkable neighborhoods.
• Incentivize Better Land Use in Suburban Areas
  In lower-density neighborhoods and commercial zones, public garages could be a tool to encourage the conversion of surface parking lots—like those around big-box stores—into housing, green space, or other community assets.

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The chorus of urbanists is likely to argue that parking garages are unattractive. While that may be true in some cases, they don’t have to be. With thoughtful design, parking garages can seamlessly blend into the urban landscape, incorporate ground-floor retail, or even be hidden behind other uses, such as housing or office spaces.

If we want to build more housing, reduce sprawl, and create cities that work for everyone, we need to meet people where they are. Publicly funding parking garages might not be the perfect solution, but it could be a practical one. Especially if it helps make housing more abundant, our neighborhoods more livable, and our streets more human-centered.