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SA Page 42 There is much research being conducted on the effect of parking requirements on housing affordability and the ways to lower residential parking requirements. In the report Housing Shortage / Parking Surplus by the Transportation and Land Use Coalition, the high cost of excessive parking requirements is described: Excess parking comes at a very high cost: First, the cost of the land combined with paving or construction of the parking typically exceeds $20,000 per space, increasing rents and residential prices. Second, by increasing the land needed for each housing unit, excess parking often reduces the number of potential housing units per acre. In other words, parking squeezes out housing. Third, the parking costs and lower number of units reduce the financial feasibility of new housing construction and increase the subsidy required for affordable housing. Finally, the land used to comply with high parking requirements often reduces the potential for amenities, such as parks or ground-floor retail that can improve the neighborhood. A benefit of providing less residential parking is that it allows better urban design and architecture. Having less parking means that the parking can be tucked out of the way, having less of an impact. With high parking requirements, the results can often be unattractive, such as "dingbat" buildings (a building on stilts over a parking lot). In Rethinking Residential Parking: Myths and Facts the Non-Profit Housing Association of Northern California put it this way: Anyone who has been in an older Bay Area neighborhood has probably noticed attractive apartments buildings like the courtyard\style housing that was prevalent in California and wondered, 'Why don't they build stuff like that anymore?" A main answer is that those developments were not required to b,uild certain amounts of parking. Many of the unattractive, sixties-style apartments that neighborhoods feel are so out of character are the result of mandating parking requirements. Having to "fit in the parking" drives the design process housing developments and eliminates opportunities to incorporate open space. And since an additional space can increase the costs, high minimum parking requirements reduce the money that can be spent on quality materials and architects, Another factor to consider when developing residential parking requirements is that different types of units generate different parking needs. The report Housing Shortage / Parking Surplus by the Transportation and Land Use Coalition makes this point forcefully: Silicon Valley cities, like most United States jurisdictions, routinely prescribe a minimum number of parking spaces for each new housing development. Unfortunately, these parking requirements often take a "one-size-fits-all" approach, even though vehicle ownership varies dramatically for different types of households. Renters, low.income households, seniors, and those living in dense neighborhoods near transit tend to own fewer cars. In fact, over one of every three households in Silicon Valley own a single vehicle or none at all. '1>t1~6 ~5 . ~ .~ .-_._-. ~-- .... ..' - .._---, ... --_.. '.-...... -~.-_..__._-_..--._--"_.~,,-----._._-..."-_._._- ~'_._--,.~.._----_.,-_.- .