The Brief

Drive to any busy part of L.A., and discussions often turn to parking within a matter of minutes. Go to any local government meeting on new housing, and parking tends to come up even faster.

So it may be surprising to hear that in car-centric Los Angeles, thousands of new apartments are now being developed with little to no on-site parking.

Some neighbors worry any influx of renters without dedicated spots of their own will turn the hunt for street parking into a bloodsport. But housing advocates say there are good reasons to build without parking. Eliminating parking requirements brings construction costs down and makes rents more affordable. They say lack of easy parking also encourages residents to use climate-friendly public transportation options.

“We all want to park free — including me,” said Donald Shoup, a UCLA urban planning professor. “The problem with parking requirements is that in some cases the required parking is so expensive that the developer never even thinks about proposing a development.”

Shoup literally wrote the book on this subject. His seminal 2005 text The High Cost of Free Parking explores how parking requirements have raised construction costs and reduced the types of housing that make financial sense to develop on expensive urban land.

That’s because, Shoup said, “a lot of buildings aren't built” due to parking requirements, “especially small apartment buildings.”

Why parking is no longer a given in new L.A. apartments

Recent changes in state law have allowed developers to ditch on-site parking in many parts of L.A. County — an idea that would have been unthinkable in previous decades.

Laura Friedman, a Burbank state assembly member, authored a 2022 law that bans cities from requiring parking in apartment buildings within half a mile of a major public transit stop.

The state’s density bonus law also lets 100% affordable projects reduce or eliminate on-site parking.

Most of L.A.’s new low-income projects have zero parking

Developers in the city of L.A. are now seizing these opportunities, rolling out plans for thousands of new parking-free apartments.

A recent analysis from real estate data firm ATC Research found that 73% of projects being proposed through L.A. Mayor Karen Bass’s affordable housing fast-tracking program ED1 feature no on-site parking.

Some of those projects have drawn the ire of neighborhood groups.

“We have neighbors who have lived in our neighborhoods for years and they are accustomed to using a car,” said Conrad Starr, president of the Greater Wilshire Neighborhood Council, which has expressed opposition to two ED1 projects in Larchmont and Windsor Village with no parking.

Existing residents may end up needing to park many blocks away from where they live, Starr said, which can pose real challenges for senior citizens or families with young children.

“I'm primarily a bike rider, and I wish more people would ride bikes,” Starr said. “While we are creating new solutions as a city, and new opportunities for lifestyles that don’t require owning a personal car, that's just not going to solve it for everybody who's already here.”

Starr said one recent neighborhood council meeting regarding an ED1 project in Larchmont drew record attendance. Opponents flooded the council with letters expressing concern about the 52-unit affordable housing project’s lack of parking.

“Those of us who live nearby and shop in Larchmont know how crowded the streets are,” wrote resident Karen Fischer. “Parking is almost impossible both on weekends and weekdays, completely inconveniencing residents who live on streets adjacent to Larchmont Boulevard. This is the wrong place for more development.”

A Metro Rail train carries passengers toward Los Angeles along the 210 Freeway.

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David McNew

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Getty Images

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On-site parking boosts construction costs, increases rents 

Housing advocates say eliminating parking requirements has enabled developers to build lots of new housing that’s affordable to L.A. renters with lower incomes.

Most ED1 units will be reserved for households earning up to 80% of the area’s median income — $70,650 for a one-person household — with studio apartments renting for no more than $1,766 per month under current limits. If parking were required in these buildings, ED1 proponents say, rents would be much higher.

Studies have shown that providing on-site parking in California raises apartment construction costs by around $36,000 per unit and increases rents by about $200 per month.

Scott Epstein, policy director for Abundant Housing L.A.. said scrapping parking is a no-brainer when L.A. needs to plan for 185,000 units of low-income housing by 2029 under state law.

“When you're in an emergency of this proportion and you're trying to build housing for folks, what's more important — more housing units or more space for cars?” Epstein said. “It's not a hard choice in my book.”

Parking requirements continue in many areas

Parking mandates remain in place for L.A. County projects that are further away from major public transit options. But local lawmakers are slowly chipping away at those requirements.

Last week, the L.A. County Board of Supervisors voted in favor of rules for unincorporated parts of the county requiring one parking spot per apartment — regardless of the number of bedrooms — in buildings with 10 units or less. Previous rules often required two spots per unit.

The new rules also allow larger projects to cut the amount of required parking by up to 50% if developers provide perks such as car-share spots, electric bike charging or space for small grocery stores.

The five-member Board of Supervisors voted unanimously to pass these parking reductions, but not without some trepidation. Before the vote, Supervisor Janice Hahn said, “I think we're going to have some unintended consequences from this — some problems.”

What L.A. housing looked like before parking mandates

Gartz Court in Pasadena is an example of a bungalow court, which were popular in Southern California before cars became the dominant form of transportation.

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Aaricka Washington

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LAist

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Epstein said Abundant Housing L.A. had hoped to see the county stick with an early draft of the rules, which removed parking mandates entirely for projects with 10 units or less.

He points out there’s precedent in L.A. history.

“I used to live in a bungalow court,” Epstein said, referring to the small, detached rental home complexes developers once built here at large scale. While most of these bungalow courts predate the widespread adoption of automobiles, Epstein said, “The building form, I think, is still very relevant for Los Angeles.”

Shoup, the UCLA professor, said the dawn of parking requirements in the early to mid-20th century all but killed the bungalow court and other low-rise forms of rental housing that didn’t allow for the required two parking spots per unit.

“The dingbats disappeared, but so did almost all small apartment buildings,” Shoup said. “The kind of housing that people loved in L.A. was just swept away by the first parking requirements.”

Some developers still choose to provide parking

Getting rid of parking requirements hasn’t meant that L.A. developers are always choosing to eliminate parking. Many still plan to provide it.

Tracey Burns is vice president of Century Housing, a lender for affordable housing projects in L.A. She said nixing parking makes the most sense in areas with plentiful bus lines or train stations. Car-free tenants in those neighborhoods appreciate not having to pay more for a parking spot they’ll never use. In less transit-rich areas, discounted rent might not be enough to lure tenants who still rely on cars — and a place to park them.

“In areas such as the San Fernando Valley, where Metro transportation is limited, we as a lender will put on our risk hat and assess whether this development would be able to fully lease up,” Burns said.

There’s also a state bill that, if passed, could make it difficult for tenants to own a car in one of these buildings. Senate Bill 834, authored by Sen. Anthony Portantino of Glendale, aims to ban cities from issuing overnight street parking permits to residents in new parking-free apartments.

“We know that the elimination of parking does not reduce vehicle ownership,” Burns said. “Angelenos still depend on their cars. But we also know that people need a place to live before parking so it's kind of like a double-edged sword.”

Cars drive down Fairfax Avenue, where developer Jason Grant plans to build low-income apartments with no parking.

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Evan Jacoby

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LAist

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Reality check: Will future Angelenos still need a place to park? 

According to U.S Census Bureau data, less than 9% of L.A. County households are completely car-free. Some developers hope investments in public transit — and Silicon Valley efforts to make private car ownership obsolete — could one day reduce L.A.’s need for abundant parking.

Jason Grant, founder of Local Development LLC, recently attended an L.A. City Council committee meeting to speak against a challenge to a 100% affordable project he’s developing on Fairfax Avenue. Opponents with the group North Orange Grove Residents have seized on the 26-unit project’s lack of parking.

On his way to the meeting, Grant saw something that put the whole fight in perspective.

“I'm on Beverly and La Brea, and I'm looking left at this Waymo car,” Grant said. “There was nobody in the vehicle. It was driving itself.”

Grant estimated that excavating land and pouring concrete to create an underground parking structure for the Fairfax project would cost upwards of $1 million.

“Yeah, I'm going to remove a million-dollar parking lot,” Grant said. “Because the parking will probably become obsolete in the next five to 10 years.”

The city council’s planning and land use committee unanimously voted down the challenge to the Fairfax project.

How to watchdog your local government

For people who live in L.A., the Board of Supervisors and City Council have the most direct impact on housing in your neighborhood.

• Learn more about who influences local housing policy
  

The best way to keep tabs on your own local government is by attending public meetings for your city council or local boards. Here are a few tips to get you started.

• Find meeting schedules and agendas: City councils usually meet at least twice a month, although larger ones may meet weekly. Committees and boards tend to meet less often, typically once a month. You can find the schedule and meeting agenda on your local government’s website, or posted physically at your local city hall. Find more tips here.

  • Find L.A. City Council agendas and meeting dates
  • Find meetings for L.A. city boards and commissions
  • Find L.A. County agendas and meeting dates
• Learn the jargon: Closed session, consent calendars and more! We have definitions for commonly used terms here.
• How to give public comment: Every public meeting allows community members to give comment, whether or not it’s about something on the agenda. The meeting agenda will have specific instructions for giving public comment. Review more details here.

A key document laying out how Olympics organizers will address human rights issues like civil rights, homelessness and human trafficking in the summer of 2028 has not been made public, despite a Dec. 31, 2025, deadline.

Talk of a boycott, fear about ICE agents, and concern about L.A.'s unhoused population have been swirling around preparations for the Olympic Games for months. But last week, some L.A. City Council members said at a committee meeting that they had not seen the report. Neither have local human rights advocates.

" It's just the lack of transparency," said Stephanie Richard, who leads an anti-trafficking initiative at Loyola Law School. "Why wouldn't the reports have been put out the day that they were provided?"

LA28, the private nonprofit putting on the Games, is responsible for creating a "Human Rights Strategy" in consultation with the city, according to a contract with Los Angeles. It was supposed to be completed by the end of 2025.

Spokespeople for LA28 say it has fulfilled its "obligation to the city" and that the organization is working with L.A. on next steps. When asked by LAist, city officials did not disclose who had seen the human rights document or what those next steps were.

Council President Marqueece Harris-Dawson sets the agenda for the ad-hoc city council committee on the Olympic Games. But his office didn't respond to requests for comment on if he had seen the report. The mayor's office also did not return repeated requests for comment on who at the city has the Human Rights Strategy.

While advocates wait to see the report, some are concerned about what will be in it.

Richard with Loyola Law School said she participated in a call with LA28 to advise on the human rights strategy, but she was disheartened when there was no follow-up conversation.

" It feels like the human rights plans have always been very like big picture and nothing concrete," she said.

Richard also has her eye on the upcoming World Cup, which requires a human rights plan, too. She told LAist she wants to see LA28 and FIFA put money behind these efforts. She compiled her own report with a long list of suggestions ahead of the World Cup and Olympics, including the demand that both organizations negotiate with the federal government to ensure immigration enforcement doesn't conduct raids around sporting venues.

Catherine Sweetser, who directs a human rights litigation clinic at UCLA Law, has been researching the organizing committee's process in putting together its human rights strategy.

Sweetser said LA28 had not called public meetings about its approach to issues like homelessness, and had not to her knowledge engaged people who might be directly affected by the Olympic Games, like people living on the streets of Los Angeles.

"The only way that we're going to get real solutions is to listen to the people who are affected," she said. "And right now I don't see that happening with this human rights process."

LAist has also requested an interview LA28's senior human rights advisor, Julieta Valls Noyes.

A mid-week warming trend kicks off Tuesday, with temperatures expected to reach the low 90s in some valleys.

SoCal beaches will see temperatures from 73 to 79 degrees, with periods of low clouds in the morning. The inland coast and downtown L.A. will see highs of between 82 and 85 degrees.

The valley communities, including the Inland Empire, will see highs of up to 86 degrees, and up to 89 degrees in Coachella Valley. Meanwhile, the Antelope Valley could get up to 75 degrees.

The National Weather Service is also warning of windy conditions over the Santa Clarita Valley, where gusts could reach 35 mph in the afternoon.

The 2028 Olympic soccer final matches will take place at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, but earlier games will be played at stadiums across the U.S.

Those locations were announced Tuesday by the Olympics organizers. Stadiums in San Diego and San Jose in California will host Olympic soccer matches. So will New York City, Columbus, Nashville and St. Louis.

The venues outside of the L.A.-area will host group stage and knock-out matches in the Olympic tournament ahead of the final stage matches in Pasadena. The Games will allow fans from around the country to view Olympic competitions.

The additional stadiums where Olympic soccer matches will take place are:

• Etihad Park in New York City
• ScottsMiracle-Gro Field in Columbus, Ohio
• GEODIS Park in Nashville, Tennessee 
• Energizer Park in St. Louis, Missouri 
• PayPal Park in San Jose
• Snapdragon Stadium in San Diego

LA28 said in a news release that organizers "intentionally designed the tournament to include stadiums from the East Coast to West Coast to minimize travel demands."

Dates and locations for the women's and men's tournaments will be announced before ticket sales start in April.