October 8, 2026
CHELSEA IS JOINING a growing list of Massachusetts cities to consider whether the road to more housing runs through fewer parking spaces.
The city announced last week that it will hold two community meetings this month to discuss making mandatory parking minimums for new developments a thing of the past and allowing developers to build the number of parking spaces they see fit.
The city of 40,000 currently enforces rules that require builders to create a certain number of off-street parking spaces whenever they construct new housing. For larger residential buildings with three or more units, developers must build at least 1.5 parking spaces per unit. For every unit in a building of this size with more than two bedrooms, the builder must add an extra 0.5 parking space for each additional bedroom.
For smaller projects, like a single-family home or a two-family duplex, builders in Chelsea are required to provide two parking spaces per home.
Across the country, cities are abandoning their parking minimums and hoping to end up with fewer parking lots, more housing, and walkable, transit-oriented neighborhoods.
The local rules have historically been used to ensure new developments can accommodate residents with cars and do not overwhelm local on-street public parking spaces. However, urbanists have argued that the requirements gobble up land that could be used for more housing and drive up construction costs. Developers who can’t build enough parking will often downsize their housing developments, meaning fewer units are constructed.
Chelsea, which is connected to Boston via multiple bus lines as well as the MBTA commuter rail, has a total land area of approximately 2.2 square miles. It’s the smallest city in Massachusetts by area and the third most densely populated after Somerville and Cambridge — which, in 2022 and 2024, became the first two cities in the state to do away with baseline parking requirements for new construction. Approximately one third of Chelsea residents do not own a car, and 24 percent of employed residents use public transportation to get to work.
If a zoning change is passed, Chelsea would join Salem, a fellow Gateway City that discarded its parking minimums for new multifamily housing in 2025 after a year and a half-long effort.
“Chelsea needs, and our residents want, more homes and fewer empty parking spaces at our new developments,” said City Manager Fidel Maltez. “By eliminating our parking minimums, we would free up space for more housing units, open space, and other community-desired uses, which are essential to making sure Chelsea is a vibrant and affordable place to live.”
Collectively, the state’s 26 Gateway Cities need to add 83,000 housing units over the next 10 years to catch up to demand, according to the MassINC Policy Center. (The policy center is part of the same organization that publishes CommonWealth Beacon.) Chelsea needs to build more than 1,600 homes in the next decade to address its current shortage, keep up with modest household growth, and replace the older housing stock that is lost each year after either being condemned or demolished.
A commission created by Gov. Maura Healey — officially dubbed the state’s Commission on Unlocking Housing Production — released a 106-page report in 2025 with more than 50 policy recommendations to increase the state’s housing supply. Getting rid of parking minimums made the list.
Parking structures often create sprawl and make neighborhoods less walkable. In a dense city like Chelsea, which has already been dubbed a heat island in part because it lacks open green space and shaded areas, asphalt from parking lots can also trap heat and create runoff. Parking minimums also add major costs to new housing construction — upwards of $50,000 per unit, according to the state’s Commission on Unlocking Housing Production. Those costs can translate directly to higher rents.
“Not only would this policy make housing easier and more affordable to build, it would also reduce the cost of housing in Chelsea, encourage sustainable transportation choices, help alleviate traffic congestion, and reduce pollution in our city,” said Ben Cares, director of the city’s housing and community development department.
By examining overnight residential parking data, the Metropolitan Area Planning Council (MAPC) has consistently found that parking is overbuilt and underutilized at multifamily housing sites throughout the Greater Boston area. Actual demand for parking averages just 0.78 space per housing unit in Chelsea, according to MAPC data, which is far less than what the city requires. The average utilization rate of parking spots in Chelsea is roughly 80 percent, meaning some 20 percent of off-street residential parking spaces in multifamily developments sit vacant overnight.
Throwing out the parking rules will require a formal permitting and land-use zoning amendment to be approved by both the planning board and city council. City Council president Roberto Jiménez-Rivera said forcing developers to build private parking spots doesn’t do anything to solve the city’s street parking or housing crisis. He added that when new housing projects are built next to public transit, the need for a car and a parking spot is reduced.
“We need our requirements to be flexible to the realities of each project,” Jiménez-Rivera said.
Courtesy of Commonwealth Beacon
