New report shows how outdated parking mandates inflate Hawaiʻi housing costs

News Release from Hawai’i Appleseed, Written by Will Caron, Oct 21, 2025

HONOLULU, Hawaiʻi — A new research report from Hawai’i Appleseed reveals that parking mandates are adding tens of thousands of dollars to the cost of construction of new homes on Oʻahu. This added cost to constructions stifles housing production and affordability. 

The report calls for government leaders to expand on recent local reforms to begin to reduce or eliminate parking mandates in key areas. The goal is to empower developers to right-size parking based on market demand, rather than using the current one-size-fits-all approach, which has resulted in an over-production of parking in cities across the country, including Honolulu.

In urban Honolulu, the construction of mandated podium parking can add over $68,000 to the cost of a single affordable rental unit in 2025. These costs are passed on to residents in the form of higher rents and purchase prices, including for those who do not own a car.

“The data is clear: forcing developers to build expensive parking spaces as a condition of creating housing is a hidden tax on affordability,” said Abbey Seitz, Hawaiʻi Appleseed Director of Transportation Equity. “It’s critical to understand that ending parking mandates does not mean parking disappears. It means we stop the government from forcing developers to build more parking than the market needs, which is essential for lowering housing costs and making better use of our limited land.”

The report details how parking mandates have profound economic and social consequences:

• For Renters: A single parking space can add approximately $410 per month to the rent of a studio apartment in urban Honolulu, whether the tenant owns a car or not.
• For Projects: The high cost of parking can render otherwise viable affordable housing projects financially infeasible, reducing the number of units built.
• For Communities: Valuable urban land is dedicated to car storage instead of being used for more homes, parks, or community spaces.

The report acknowledges Honolulu’s Ordinance 20-41 as a step in the right direction—noting a 12 percent decrease in permitted parking in Transit-Oriented Development (TOD) areas since its passage. However, when looking at a tenure specific basis, for-sale projects have only decreased their parking ratios by 3.45 percent, while rental developments parking ratios have decreased by 19.35 percent.

The report argues the policy’s impact is muted by a fragmented and often politicized approval system. Analysis shows that rental projects subject to discretionary approval by the City Council built three times more parking than those approved through ministerial processes.

“The current policy creates a loophole through which outdated parking mandates are reintroduced under political pressure, undermining the ordinance’s intent,” said Arjuna Heim, Hawaiʻi Appleseed Director of Research. “To truly address the housing crisis, we need bolder, more consistent action.”

The report puts forward five key recommendations for lawmakers:

• Implement Parking Maximums in TOD Zones: Prevent the over-supply of parking by capping the number of spaces allowed.
• Decouple Parking from Housing Costs: Ensure residents are not forced to pay for parking spaces they do not need or use.
• Expand Elimination of Mandates: Remove costly parking minimums beyond the current TOD areas to more neighborhoods across Oʻahu.
• Transition to Ministerial Approvals: Shift multifamily housing approvals to a by-right process to prevent political negotiations from inflating parking counts.
• Improve Transparency and Data Collection: Mandate public reporting of parking allocations and count parking toward Floor Area Ratio (FAR) to accurately reflect its footprint.

“Our recommendations are a practical roadmap to align our housing policies with our affordability goals,” said Seitz. “By moving away from top-down parking mandates to a flexible, demand-based system, we can stop subsidizing car storage at the expense of housing and build more livable, affordable communities for everyone.”

The full report, “Stalled: How Parking Mandates Drive Up Housing Costs,” is available for download here.

Download PDF

HNN: Parking mandates could raise Honolulu housing costs, new study finds