In recent years, many cities across Canada have been working to address the role that parking plays in our housing affordability crisis, and the School of Planning’s Dawn Parker has offered some solutions.
A 2021 report by the Canadian Energy Systems Analysis Research (CESAR) states that Canada has around 23 million light-duty vehicles and between 71 to 97 million parking spaces, leaving 3.2 to 4.4 parking spots per car in the country. This disparity can be attributed to Minimum Parking Regulations (MPRs), which force developers to create parking for any new development, regardless of their perception of demand for parking.
Many cities across Canada, such as Toronto, Edmonton, and Vancouver, have removed these parking minimums over the course of 2021.
The School of Planning’s Dawn Parker argues that the removal of these parking minimums will only partially address the challenges of creating sufficient density for transit-friendly, walkable developments.
Speaking recently on the issue with Global News, Parker stated that “we have a chicken and egg problem. The problem is we want dense development, but development isn’t initially dense enough. Retail activities, other activities, employment locations are so spread out that people still need to have a car.”
Dr. Parker recommended that a potential short-term solution would be for cities to facilitate the development of denser, multi-level parking lots, allowing space previously used for surface parking to be converted to housing. An additional solution, as highlighted in a conversation she had with the Woolwich Observer – is to build housing on top of parking lots. “This could take many forms. One is small, modular, affordable units. Another is to subsidize multi-level parking to facilitate new housing on surface parking or prevent surface parking on new developments.”
The School of Planning's Dr. Dawn Parker