Parking Bill introduced in Congress

Congressman Robert Garcia (Long Beach) introduced legislation—the People Over Parking Act—to ban minimum parking requirements for new affordable residential, retail, industrial, and commercial developments located near public transportation hubs in an effort to reduce the cost of building new higher-density homes and encourage transit ridership. Currently, parking minimums require developers to provide off-street parking with every project at a cost as high as $80,000 per parking space, according to the Bay Area Council. Donald Shoup, a professor of Urban Planning at the University of California at Los Angeles, has said that the country has an excess of parking spaces, with an estimated three parking spaces for each car. Some states and local governments have taken similar action, including California, with the passage of AB 2097 (2022). This bill would apply nationwide. Check out this Washington Post Article for a take on minimum parking requirements—Why Free Street Parking Could Be Costing You Hundreds More in Rent.