Garcia bill aims to expand affordable housing by cutting parking minimums

By nearly every measure, the U.S. has a worsening affordable housing crisis.

According to a report from the Urban Institute, an economic and social policy think tank, there is a shortage of 7.3 million available and affordable rental homes for renters with extremely low incomes in the U.S., up 8% percent from in 2019. The group’s report also says there are only 7 million affordable housing units for 11 million households with extremely low-income households, but 3.3 million are occupied by households with higher incomes.

The problem is especially acute in the nation’s cities, where space is scarce and the price of land is high.

One California congressman is proposing a novel solution: A federal law that would ban localities from requiring developers to set aside some of that precious urban space for parking. 

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