The United States has a large supply of residential garages that could be converted into affordable apartments. Unfortunately, off-street parking requirements prohibit converting most of these garages for cars into housing for people. Converted garages in single-family neighborhoods are variously called second units, accessory dwelling units, garage apartments, granny flats, and backyard cottages. To convert a garage into an apartment, off-street parking requirements typically force a homeowner to replace the two garage parking spaces with two new parking spaces, plus an additional off-stre...

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Cities are coming around to the idea that on-street parking should be managed and priced based on the demand for the space. San Francisco, for example, created SFpark, a program that adjusts the prices of 7,000 parking meters to achieve a target occupancy rate for on-street spaces, and received much praise among transportation policymakers and professionals. Yet as on-street parking management programs garner attention, cities routinely build off-street parking garages at great cost with scant public scrutiny. Other than recovering the cost of building and maintaining the garages, cities co...