San Francisco requires at least one parking space for every new dwelling.

The SF Planning Department says:

"San Francisco established its residential parking requirements in the 1960's, requiring at least one parking space for every new dwelling. Since then, nearly every new house, apartment, and flat has been built with its own parking space.

This requirement has had a dramatic effect on San Francisco's physical character and quality of life. There was a commonly held belief, borrowed from suburban cities, that cars would become the primary way to get around and that parking should be provided accordingly. This was a dramatic departure from the city's long-standing practice of building compact, urban and walkable places. Today, we are designing places as much for parking as for people and funneling more and more traffic onto our streets. The result is a city that is becoming more about cars and congestion and less about the character and human comfort that makes San Francisco so special."

There's an argument to be made that this requirement is part of what contributes to the housing crisis and that a policy that would require less parking per new residential unit would make it easier to create new housing and that new housing could be cheaper to build if it's not necessary to create so much parking. It would also allow for more density.

If you have information about any potential changes or proposals relating to changing residential parking requirements in the city, add them here!