Phoenix’s onerous parking requirements are stifling affordable housing projects
One reason affordable housing in Phoenix is so elusive is the city’s exorbitant parking requirements. Forcing developers to build acres of blacktop adds costs to apartment buildings, which raises rents. That might be absorbed in market-rate projects by for-profit builders, but it stymies nonprofits that want to provide desperately needed lower-cost units. It also exacerbates the heat island effect. Roughly 43 percent of Phoenix households get by with one car or less, and they tend to be lower-income; some are disabled or have other circumstances that prevent them from owning cars. They need housing much more than they need an extra parking space. Phoenix City Council is mulling over parking reforms and should scale back the arbitrary parking requirements that present major roadblocks to providing affordable housing.
