Sierra Club and Campaign for Sustainable Transportation present:

Online interview with C.J. Gabbe

Register to receive an email with the link to the webinar.

There is one measure to enhance affordability in new market rate and affordable residential units that can be done immediately and at no cost to local government: reform parking requirements so that parking is not over-built. As cities reduce parking requirements (now underway in Santa Cruz),  we need to ensure that the savings to developers from lowered parking costs gets passed on to the residents. The best way to do this is to unbundle the cost of parking from the cost of renting or owning a unit.

Studies of developments that allow tenants to opt out of purchasing parking show reduced vehicle ownership and significantly lower rents and purchase prices. Gabbe and Pierce found that bundling the cost of a parking space adds an average of 17% to a unit’s rent.

C.J. Gabbe is Assistant Professor in Environmental Studies at Santa Clara University. C.J. has a Ph.D. in Urban Planning from UCLA (2016), a Master of Urban Planning degree from the University of Washington (2006), and a bachelor’s degree in Planning, Public Policy, and Management from the University of Oregon (2001).

For more information, see https://garagealternatives.org/sustainable-land-use-planning/parking-policy-to-reduce-housing-cost-support-car-lite-households/