AgdaPkt 2006-02-27 - Laserfiche WebLink

Browse Search

SA Page 43 In Rethinking Residential Parking: Myths and Facts the Non-Profit Housing Association of Northern California pointed out that the income of residents has an impact on how many vehicles they own, and therefore how many parking space they need: In 17 studies on vehicle ownership, income was found to be a significant driver of vehicle ownership. This pattern holds throughout the Bay Area. In the 1990 census, households earning between $20,000 and $25,000 owned on average only 1.30 vehicles, 26 percent below the region wide average of 1.76 cars. And 28 percent of households earning between $10,000 and $15,000 did not own a vehicle at all. By comparison, 10 percent of households region wide lived without a car. Additionally, most affordable housing is built near transit service, which reduces the need for a first or second car in many households. In the Bay Area, minimum parking requirements do not recognize this fact and reduce their parking requirements for affordable housing. Outside of the Bay Area, cities such as Los Angeles, Santa Monica and San Diego have provided reductions in their development regulations for affordable housing. In Housing Shortage / Parking Surplus, the Transportation and Land Use Coalition also described the correlation between income and vehicle ownership: Even controlling for other factors such as density and transit accessibility, lower.income households have lower vehicle ownership rates. The vast majority of car-free households earn less than $25,000 per year. Rather than owning a car, which can cost more than $7,000 a year to own and operate, some low-income residents get around by other means. A survey by the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority (VTA) found that 59% of VT A bus riders make less than $35,000 per year, qualifying them for very low- or low-income housing, depending on family size, Because of this, many cities lower their parking requirements for low income housings. For example, the City of Seattle's parking requirement for low-income units with two or less bedrooms was recently reduced to one parking space for every three units (0.33 spaces per unit). In the Center City neighborhoods that ring downtown Seattle the requirement for units with three or more bedrooms was reduced by half, to one space for every two units (0.5 spaces per unit). In addition to proximity to transit and incorite of the residents, the age of the residents also plays a role in parking demand according to Rethinking Residential Parking: Seniors own significantly fewer vehicles and thus generate lower demand for parking. In the Bay Area, households with all members aged 62 and above own 31 percent fewer cars than households with no seniors. Nationwide, renting households with all members aged 65 or older own an average of 0.6 vehicles versus a national average household rate of 1.9 vehicles for households with no seniors In Housing Shortage / Parking Surplus, the Transportation and Land Use Coalition also described the correlation between age and vehicle ownership: In the Bay Area, the vehicle ownership rates of seniors are about 30% lower than the general public. .. .the difference is even more marked with seniors aged 75 and over, who own just half as many vehicles as the average household. The Transportation and Land Use Coalition also described the vehicle ownership rates for renters and residents of dense, transit-oriented development: 1>fl~~ 36 -.---. . ---~...._... -__"_~'__."__'."""'" _'n '....___.._0'__.._._..__ .__~._~_"_.._