Could the way Canadians park vehicles be part of the housing crisis?

Experts say Canada's regulations around parking, which in many cases is free, contributes to Canada’s housing crisis. What can be done about it?

It’s no secret that Canada is facing a major housing shortage. But could the sheer amount of space used for parking vehicles be part of the problem?

A recent Re/Max report looking at participation in the housing market said the “vast majority” of lower-priced properties in the Greater Toronto Area are parking spaces, and that most of the 250 ‘properties’ listed for sale under the $400,000 price point are parking spaces, lockers and vacant land.

For housing advocates, it touched on a longtime frustration.

“Four parking spaces side-by-side on a surface parking lot is about the same amount of space as a one-bedroom apartment,” said Mark Richardson, from the Toronto-based housing advocacy group HousingNowTO. “If we’re going to spend money – particularly government money and government time – on things that land, that space is better used as places for people rather than empty car storage.”

A 2021 report by the Canadian Energy Systems Analysis Research, also known as CESAR, said Canada has exponentially more parking spaces than cars. The report said Canada has around 23 million light-duty vehicles but has somewhere between 71 million to 97 million parking spots.

That suggests there are 3.2 to 4.4 parking spots for every car in the country.

In some cities, parking takes up most of the space in the city’s downtown core. In Regina, for example, nearly half of private land in the city’s downtown core is parking lots.

In the city of Toronto, a bylaw dictates that a parking spot should be 5.6 metres in length, 2.6 metres in width and have a vertical clearance of two metres. This comes to around 156 square feet for a single vehicle, while according to Canadian Real Estate Magazine, the size of the average Toronto condo is just under 650 square feet – around the same as the four parking spots Richardson cited.