Lifting Parking Mandates

Parking mandates are an outdated, complex, and costly policy that many cities are removing from their zoning codes.

Since the 1960s, New York City has operated under mandates that require many new buildings to include space for parking, regardless of demand. These zoning requirements:

• Raise the cost of housing by adding to overall construction costs and reducing the number of units that each building can rent or sell

• Cater to and encourage car ownership by making it easier to own and use a car

• Create a less livable and walkable city by increasing the number of cars on the road

• Deaden streetscapes and economic vitality by taking up space that could be used for retail

• Take up space that could be used for more housing, public space, or other valuable public uses

In December 2024, after years of advocacy from Open Plans, fellow advocates, and everyday New Yorkers, City Council passed City of Yes for Housing Opportunity. This historic zoning text amendment reformed the City’s parking mandates, establishing a tiered system.

Zone 1: a completely mandate-free area that includes most of Manhattan as well as parts of Brooklyn and Queens. This zone is now home to the biggest population in the country without parking mandates.

Zone 2: a new Outer Transit Zone, where affordable and senior housing are now exempt from mandates, and other housing has significantly lower minimums than before City of Yes was passed. Although mandates are not fully lifted, these reductions will make it easier to build housing.

Zone 3: low density neighborhoods where mandates will remain mostly in place, requiring that new residential buildings reserve space for private parking that adds to housing costs and perpetuates car dependence.

Parking mandates were first lifted in order to reduce pollution and comply with the Clean Air Act in Manhattan. In 1982, acknowledging that parking minimums are part of the problem — they encourage driving and create dangerous levels of air pollution — the City removed them entirely in Manhattan south of 110th Street on the west side and south of 96th Street on the east side. But clean air should be prioritized in every district of the city - not just high-earning areas of Manhattan. This is a health and equity issue; Black adults have the highest rates of asthma in the country. Regardless of race, asthma is highest among American families living below the poverty line.

Dozens of cities across the country including Buffalo, San Francisco, and Minneapolis have already lifted mandates. After Buffalo removed parking mandates in 2027, 47% of large new buildings built less parking than used to be required — but not no parking; while 53% of buildings continued to build as much or more parking as previously required. Lifting parking mandates is feasible, reasonable, and tested.