Denver Reduces Parking Requirements for Affordable Housing
The Denver City Council has approved a change to the city's zoning code that reduces minimum parking requirements for affordable housing developments, reports Daliah Singer. "Among other things, the just-updated code lowers the 'affordable housing alternative minimum parking ratio' for affordable housing projects in any district to 0.1, or one spot for every 10 units. It also upped the applicable AMI from 40 percent to 60 percent to encompass more housing."The update comes as an acknowledgement of the pivotal role parking requirements play in housing affordability and the vast number of unused parking spaces in the city's housing developments. A December 2020 study found that income-restricted properties provide, on average, "50 percent more parking than residents use." Another audit of affordable and supportive housing in the city found that "Denver’s zoning code required 5.5 times more parking than was needed."