Austin, TX
From Austin to Anchorage, U.S. cities opt to ditch their off-street parking minimums
The city council in Austin, Texas recently proposed something that could seem like political Kryptonite: getting rid of parking minimums.
Those are the rules that dictate how much off-street parking developers must provide — as in, a certain number of spaces for every apartment and business.
Around the country, cities are throwing out their own parking requirements – hoping to end up with less parking, more affordable housing, better transit, and walkable neighborhoods.
Some Austinites were against tossing the rules.
“Austin has developed as a low density city without adequate mass transportation system,” said resident Malcolm Yeatts. “Austin citizens cannot give up their cars. Eliminating adequate parking for residents will only increase the flight of the middle class and businesses to the suburbs.”
But much more numerous were voices in support of eliminating the minimums and the impact they’ve had on housing costs, congestion, and walkability.
“I think our country has used its land wastefully, like a drunk lottery winner that’s squandered their newfound wealth,” said resident Tai Hovanky. “We literally paved paradise and put up a parking lot.”
The amendment sailed through the council — making Austin the biggest city in the country to eliminate its parking mandates citywide.
Dozens of cities have ditched parking minimums
But it’s not just Austin. More than 50 other cities and towns have thrown out their minimums, from Anchorage, Alaska, and San Jose, Calif., to Gainesville, Fla.
“They’re all just dead weight,” says Tony Jordan, the president of the Parking Reform Network, of parking minimums. One issue is just how arbitrary they can be.
Take bowling alleys. Jordan says the number of required parking spots per bowling lane could vary anywhere from two to five, in cities right next to each other.
“What’s the difference between a bowler in city A and city B? Nothing. It’s just these codes were put in … very arbitrarily back 30 or 40 years ago and they’re very hard to change because anytime the city wants to change them, there’s a whole big hoopla,” he says.
Random as these rules can be, they have major consequences: Parking creates sprawl and makes neighborhoods less walkable. Asphalt traps heat and creates runoff. And parking minimums can add major costs to building new housing: a single space in a parking structure can cost $50,000 or more.
One 2017 study found that including garage parking increased the rent of a housing unit by about 17 percent.
The real problem, says Jordan, is what doesn’t get built: “The housing that could have gone in that space or the housing that wasn’t built because the developer couldn’t put enough parking. … So we just lose housing in exchange for having convenient places to store cars.”
A move to let the market decide
Austin City Council member Zo Qadri was the lead sponsor on the resolution to remove parking mandates there. He emphasizes that getting rid of parking mandates isn’t the same thing as getting rid of parking: “It simply lets the market and individual property owners decide what levels of parking are appropriate or needed.”
Austin removed parking requirements for its downtown area a decade ago, “and the market has still provided plenty of parking in the vast majority of the projects since then,” says Qadri.
A new survey from Pew Charitable Trusts found that 62% of Americans support property owners and builders to make decisions about the number of off-street parking spaces, instead of local governments.
Angela Greco, a 36-year-old musician and copywriter in Austin, is one of them. She drives, but prefers to walk or take transit. She’s not worried that doing away with the old rules will make it too hard to find a place to park.
“I’ve lived in like cities where it’s way more difficult, like New York and L.A.,” Greco says. “Parking just isn’t that difficult in Austin to me to begin with, even in really dense areas.”
Ed Jones / AFP via Getty Images
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AFP via Getty Images
She says the question of whether the city invests in transit and walkability, or doubles down on cars, is decisive in whether she’ll live in Austin long-term.
“Like if it doesn’t seem like the public transit’s going to get better, and if it seems like the highway expansion is going to happen, then I’m probably going to start looking for where else I can live. … It’s a major factor in my life and my happiness. Like sometimes I’m driving on the road and I’ll be in traffic or something or even just on the highway, and it’s such an ugly landscape,” Greco says. “And then I’ll think: this isn’t really how I want to spend my adult life.”
Too much parking can hinder effective transit
What about the idea that cities without good transit can’t cut back on parking?
Jonathan Levine, a professor of urban and regional planning at the University of Michigan who studies transportation policy reform, says cities’ parking minimums can make good transit nearly impossible to develop.
“An area that has a lot of parking is transit-hostile territory,” he says.
He explains why: When people take transit, they complete their journey by walking to their destination. A sea of parking at the destination makes that walk longer, and it makes the physical environment less appealing to those on foot.
“Who wants to walk by a bunch of parking lots to get to your destination?” Levine notes.
And having tons of parking encourages driving. “If you have parking everywhere that you’re going, that parking essentially is calling to the drivers, drive here! Park here! … So if you keep on designing those areas by governmental mandate, you’re creating areas that transit can’t serve effectively,” says Levine.
Many more U.S. cities – including New York City, Milwaukee, and Dallas — are exploring getting rid of their parking minimums too. Duluth, Minn., lifted its parking mandates in December.
Levine says getting rid of these rules is good news for cities.
“It’s a huge drag on housing affordability. And it’s a huge impediment for cities fulfilling their destiny, which is enabling human interaction. Because what parking does is it separates land uses, separates people. It makes cities have a much more sprawling physical profile than they otherwise would have.”
Copyright 2024 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.
“We’re thrilled to expand our relationship with the team at NRP and our focus on the Affordable Housing market in
The transaction represents Safehold’s second transaction with NRP in
Safehold established a dedicated Affordable Housing team in 2025 and has continued to expand its investment into the sector. Additional information is available at www.safeholdaffordablehousing.com.
About Safehold:
Safehold Inc. (NYSE: SAFE) is revolutionizing real estate ownership by providing a new and better way for owners to unlock the value of the land beneath their buildings. Having created the modern ground lease industry in 2017, Safehold continues to help owners of high quality multifamily, affordable housing, office, industrial, hospitality, student housing, life science and mixed-use properties generate higher returns with less risk. The Company, which is taxed as a real estate investment trust (REIT), seeks to deliver safe, growing income and long-term capital appreciation to its shareholders. Additional information on Safehold is available on its website at www.safeholdinc.com.
About The NRP Group:
The NRP Group is a vertically integrated developer, owner, builder, and manager of best-in-class multifamily housing with a mission to create exceptional rental housing communities for individuals and families, regardless of income. Since its founding in 1994, NRP has developed more than 62,000 apartment homes and currently manages over 30,000 residential units. Through its disciplined approach to vetting opportunities, NRP has established a track record of delivering impressive returns for investors. The company’s formidable size and depth of talent provide the experience and infrastructure necessary to execute developments of varying degrees of complexity and scope in both urban-infill and suburban locations, including market-rate, affordable, mixed-income, and senior housing. The NRP Group has been consistently named a largest developer and builder in the U.S. on the NMHC “Top 50” lists, the Top 5 on the Multi-Housing News’ “Top Multifamily Developers” list, named a Top Affordable Housing Developer by Affordable Housing Finance, and has won three NAHB Pillar awards since 2020 for Development, Construction and Ones to Watch. The NRP Group has become the top multifamily developer in the U.S. that creates both affordable and market-rate housing at a national scale. Based on over 30 years of experience and expertise, NRP provides construction and property management services to outside owners and developers. For additional information, visit www.nrpgroup.com.
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SOURCE Safehold
AUSTIN (Nexstar) – During a Texas Senate Business and Commerce hearing Wednesday, lawmakers heard invited testimony examining soaring property and casualty insurance costs. Testimony focused on the need for more affordable options and the need to address the role of AI.
Increased costs
Amanda Crawford, the Commissioner of Insurance at the Texas Department of Insurance (TDI), acknowledged the reality of rising insurance costs for everyday Texans.
“The past few years have been very, very difficult. The average annual homeowner premium in Texas has increased from under $2,000 in 2020 to over $3,500 today. It’s a 79% increase in six years. That is a tremendous burden for Texans, especially for a necessary product like home insurance,” Crawford told lawmakers Wednesday.
Crawford went on to clarify that this increase can be attributed to increases in home values and claim costs related to severe weather.
“Annual homeowners’ losses averaged 5.5 billion from 2015 to 2020, rising to 9.1 billion from 2021 to 2025.” Crawford went on to say that “Last year alone, the National Weather Service recorded 902 hailstorms in Texas. The next closest state, Kansas, had 375.”
Holding insurance companies accountable
Crawford clarified that the TDI requires insurance companies to elaborate on their filings to ensure that Texans are not subject to unfair practices and prices.
“My expectations are that every rate filing submitted to TDI gets a careful review. We examine every statutory filing for statutory compliance. We verify the math, we scrutinize assumptions, we make them show their work”
According to the Texas Insurance Code, the rate review process conducted by the TDI does not explicitly focus on affordability.
“There is not a purpose in there around affordability. It is about driving market competition. It’s about making sure they’re not excessive, but then they’re also adequate. And it’s about having market forces drive the rates that are filed. So I think that’s an interesting perspective when you look at it, because that really frames the whole rate review process as it has been put into law.”
Insurance company officials say they are also focused on affordable costs.
“Our industry is not just saying, hey, legislators go fix all this. We are working all the time to bring down costs. It’s a good business decision because it helps us be more competitive,” said Scot Kibbe, the Vice President for State Government Relations at the American Property College for Insurance Association.
Concerns of price surveillance
Senator Nathan Johnson, D-Dallas, questioned whether insurance companies may be using technological advances, such as AI, to participate in price surveillance, a tactic to maximize profits.
“It sounds like, to some extent, every industry, with the advent of technological advantages we didn’t use to have, is able to create a special price just for you to find out your breaking point,” Johnson said.
David Bolduc with the Office of Public Insurance Counsel noted that there are protections in statute against companies charging different prices for the same coverage. But he added that the practice can be difficult to detect.
“I don’t know that TDI has the ability to monitor that. I mean, we hear about it,” Bolduc said in response to Johnson. “I think, if you could do something in statute that would allow us to report it, or would allow TDI to take action about it, that might be useful in terms of monitoring it,” Bolduc added.
Earlier this month, the TDI released a “use of artificial intelligence” bulletin to set expectations on how “regulated entities will govern the development, acquisition, and the use of AI technologies in their operations.”
Crawford says this bulletin will help address price surveillance concerns by reminding companies of Texas Insurance codes related to unfair discrimination and deceptive practices.
“That’s one of the reasons for putting out the AI bulletin, the expectations and the consumer protection around the use of that data, and what they are using that for,” Crawford said.
Potential solutions
Bolduc called on lawmakers to reexamine AI’s role in the industry. He also asked lawmakers to look into making coverage changes more transparent.
“It might be useful to continue looking for ways to be transparent about coverage changes. Notices of material change don’t seem to be working particularly well in the sense that we get a lot of phone calls from people saying they don’t understand what happened to them,” Bolduc said Wednesday.
Billy Crocker, Senior Vice President of Alliant Insurance Services, says the best way to fix pricing is to drive up competition between insurance companies.
“I think creating a lot of competition is the best way to drive this down, both for personal and business lines,” Crocker told lawmakers. “And then that brings the opportunity for access.”
Austin, TX
Forman Capital Provides $28.2 Million Lot Development Loan for a 253-Acre Mixed-Use Project Near Austin, Texas
Forman Capital, a leading private direct commercial real estate lender, has closed a $28,204,026 lot development loan for The Highlands, a planned 253-acre mixed-use community located along Manzano Mile at FM 1431 in Marble Falls, Texas, located on the edge of the broader Austin MSA. The borrower and developer is Rockspring, a Texas-based real estate firm with more than three decades of experience across the state’s most dynamic growth markets.
The Highlands stretches along Manzano Mile, encompassing single-family homes, rental apartments, and retail commercial uses on undeveloped land. The Forman Capital loan will fund horizontal development in advance of vertical construction, which will be performed by other developers and builders, and is expected to start in the fall.
The Forman Capital team that worked on the transaction includes Scott Mehlman, Ty Regnier, Brett Forman and Ben Jacobson.
“Forman Capital has always been drawn to developers who are doing something meaningful — not just building but genuinely adding real value to a community. The Highlands does exactly that, bringing much-needed housing and amenities to a city that has grown faster than its supply could keep pace with. We are proud to support Rockspring’s vision here,” said Brett Forman, Forman Capital Managing Partner.
“Marble Falls and the 71 Highway corridor are benefiting from the same powerful tailwinds driving growth across Texas, with the added advantage of a quality-of-life profile that is attracting both residents and businesses,” said Scott Mehlman, Forman Capital Partner and Chief Investment Officer. “The Highlands is exceptionally well-positioned to meet that demand, and we look forward to seeing this community take shape.”
About Forman Capital
Delray Beach, Florida-based Forman Capital provides private commercial real estate debt and equity financing for transactions ranging from $10 million to $100 million. The firm focuses on short-term construction financing, mezzanine debt, and preferred equity across various real estate asset classes and geographies. Company principals Brett Forman and Ben Jacobson have closed more than $3 billion in commercial real estate transactions since 2004. For more information, visit www.formancap.com.
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