Boston Weighs Eliminating Parking Minimums for Housing Development

The Boston City Council is weighing the impact of a measure to remove off-street parking minimum requirements for new residential development.

Councilors Sharon Durkan, Henry Santana, and Liz Breadon, the Council's president, proposed the amendment. According to the councilors, the amendment seeks to reduce development costs, accelerating the city's “housing crisis.”

“We know that it is harder than ever to build,” Durkan said at last Wednesday's Council meeting in comments recorded by the Boston Herald. “Housing production is at historic lows. Costs are rising, and people are being priced out of the city. We know we need to do everything we can to increase affordability and expand the housing pipeline.”

Supporters of the amendment contend that outdated parking mandates raise project costs. They note that many planned parking spaces go unused and that removing them can lower prices and boost housing supply.

The amendment notes that Boston eliminated parking minimums for affordable housing projects that included at least 60% income-restricted units in 2021.

“For Boston residents, this reform is a common-sense, immediate step we can take to lower housing costs, support housing production and build a stronger, more sustainable city,” said Durkan, who represents Beacon Hill and Back Bay. “The real question is whether we actually have the political leadership to get this done.”

Two councilors who didn't agree to the amendment, Ed Flynn and Erin Murphy, said they oppose the proposed parking changes.

“District 2 has absorbed as much or more housing as any part of the city,” Flynn said in a statement shared with the Boston Herald. “With the MBTA needing over $30 billion in repairs and school buses being routinely late, working families in Chinatown and South Boston rely on a car to meet their needs. When we don't include parking in new buildings, those cars invariably wind up on the street and exacerbate our existing parking crisis.”

Murphy, an at-large councilor who lives in Dorchester, told the Boston Herald that the proposed amendment could not serve as a “blanket policy” for all Boston neighborhoods.

“We can build more housing,” Murphy said. “But we should not adopt a citywide policy that removes all parking requirements and leaves our neighborhoods to absorb the consequences.”