Legislation to Save Coloradans Money on Housing by Eliminating Parking Mandates Clears Senate

DENVER, CO – Legislation that would save Coloradans money on housing by eliminating parking minimums for residential properties cleared the Senate today.

HB24-1304, sponsored by Senators Kevin Priola, D-Henderson, and Nick Hinrichsen, D-Pueblo, would prohibit a county or municipality from enacting or enforcing minimum parking requirements for most multifamily residential properties within a metropolitan planning organization (MPO) that are within a quarter mile of a transit stop or station.

“Parking mandates drive up housing costs, increase traffic congestion, and make it harder for Colorado to hit its climate goals,” Priola said. “Developers can always choose to include parking, but eliminating minimum requirements will increase the availability of housing, drive down prices, and help ensure more Coloradans have a place to call home.”

“Parking spots cost tens of thousands of dollars each to build - an unacceptable number at a time when too many Coloradans are struggling to find housing they can afford,” Hinrichsen said. “We must do more to encourage the construction of new housing in our state, including for Pueblo which has a large amount of land devoted to parking that could be redeveloped as housing and businesses. This bill will make it easier to do just that while reducing traffic, bolstering economic development, and freeing up valuable space for our communities while enhancing our downtowns.”

The bill would still allow a local government to impose a parking minimum of up to one space per unit on proposed housing developments with more than 20 units or that include any units classified as affordable housing. To impose this mandate, they must show that the parking minimum is required to avoid a substantial negative impact. 

HB24-1304 does not allow a county or municipality to lower protections for people with disabilities, and does not prevent a local government from enacting or enforcing a maximum parking requirement or requiring a number of spaces for temporary loading purposes.

Lastly, the bill requires the Colorado Department of Transportation and other state agencies to publish a report of best practices and strategies for optimal parking supply and management policies by the end of 2024.

Parking minimums increase home prices and rents by requiring developers to use valuable space for cars that may not be fully utilized and could instead be dedicated to more housing units. In 2020, each new structured parking space in Denver cost $25,000 each.

Since the city of Minneapolis eliminated residential parking minimums in 2021, rents have only increased one percent, while Denver saw an average increase of nearly five percent in just the last two years. Research attributes the significant expansion of the housing supply in Minneapolis to the elimination of parking minimums.

The oversupply of parking is also directly linked to higher vehicle miles traveled. The transportation sector is the largest source of greenhouse gas pollution in Colorado, with cars contributing nearly 60 percent of the sector’s greenhouse gas emissions.

HB24-1304 will now move to the House for consideration of amendments. Track the bill’s progress HERE.