Let's build houses for people, not cars.

These costs add up quick, a 100 unit building would be looking at some $5 million up-front for parking spaces only. This disproportionally hurts projects aimed at affordability, as developer trying to build low-income units will need to put a much larger percent of unit cost towards parking than a more expensive high-end unit.

08. NOTES

10. There are 18.6 million parking spaces in Los Angeles County. Two parking spaces (~400 sq ft) can comfortably fit a one bedroom apartment, meaning there is physical space for 9.3 million new units.



However, that fails to account for all the utilities, corridors, and amenities that go into residential buildings. It also fails to account for the opportunity to build vertically. So let’s start over. Parking spaces come in many different sizes, so estimating area based off a number of spaces can yield different results. The average parking spot in the US is 9’ by 18’ (162 sq ft), but that fails to include drive isles and eggresses which increase area to 330 sq ft.



How many acres of parking in LA County?





WB Estimate includes all parking lots larger than 5000 sq ft excluding residential 101 sq mi / 64,640 acres UOT study 162 spaces per acre * 18.6m 179.4 sq mi / 114,814 acres JAPA Study Total Estimate 200 sq mi / 128,000 acres

64,640 acres 114,814 acres 128,000 acres 25 units per acre (Rowhouse) 1,616,000 units 2,870,350 units 3,200,000 units 50 units per acre (Mid-Rise) 3,232,000 units 5,740,700 units 6,400,000 units 100 units per acre (Short Highrise) 6,464,000 units 114,814,000 units 128,000,000 units

21. There is an additional conversation to be had about California's reggressive Prop 13 which capped property tax increase at 2% per year of its most recent purchase or improvement value assessment. This incentivises property owners to sit on land because improving property will not only add taxable value but also bump them from outdated prices to market value. It also means the deficit in property tax revenue has been replaced by developer impact fees which makes new housing more expensive to build. California has impact fees 3 times the national average. The California Legislative Analyst's Office page sums up the hidden costs of Prop 13 nicely

To calculate housing opportunity the above acreage estimations were multiplied by different housing densities. 50 units per acre seemed a medium amount of density suitable for most locations, with dense cores needing something closer to 100+ an acre and current single family neighborhoods needing sub 30 an acre.Although the total surface area we sacrifice to parking could be even higher, and the density of buildings built above even taller; 114,814 acres at 5,740,700 potential housing units is more than enough to prove the absurdity of current parking legislation in Los Angeles County.