Parking problems can be a significant source of stress and sometimes conflict. In many instances, there's little that can be done to change the situation from an infrastructure standpoint. Many communities have what they have for spaces and the system functions at the whims of resident demand. This one stressor can create a domino effect of challenges that eventually become overwhelming for onsite teams and residents alike.

So, who exactly should be in charge of handling the challenges? The reality is that nobody has to deal with this headache. Efficient parking management can put the power of parking in the hands of residents, significantly reduce that stress and create a more harmonious community for all parties involved. 

No Place to Go

For the majority of communities, the parking they have now is the parking they will always have. First, getting permits for additional parking is an uphill battle, especially when cities and states are now focused on reducing the number of spaces that blanket regions. There's also little incentive to expand since parking is expensive to build and carries a low ROI. Onsite professionals, as well as residents, have little choice but to work with what they already have.

When parking is scarce, communities can face a cascade of negative effects. Management teams are not only saddled with frequent parking complaints and conflict resolution between residents over spaces, violation notices and towing repeat offenders. It can be a constant and unpleasant task that takes the focus off important goals — resident retention and filling vacancies.

Success in keeping vacancies low is stymied by resident conflict. It doesn't feel like a community for the people there if they face repeated clashes over their parking. Not only will they leave, but they're also likely to hit online sites with negative reviews. That can be an uphill battle for attracting prospects since apartment hunters trust reviews more than they do the opinions of friends and family.

But, it's possible to create a well-functioning parking system even with the space limitations, fluctuations in occupancy and potential stressors. Why throw more spaces at the problem when there's a way to work smarter? 

The Benefits of Parking Management

An automated parking system, which puts the power in the hands of residents and lets them decide if they want to reserve and pay for available parking, takes the task of managing spaces off the hands of onsite professionals and reduces their stress. Additionally, this system can handle violations and towing much faster and easier, providing further benefits via more effective enforcement.

On the resident side, they'll spend less time trying to find parking knowing exactly where their space is located and that it will be available, having reserved one via a user-friendly app. Any issues on this end can also be handled with a more efficient enforcement system. What this ultimately translates to is happier residents and more positive reviews. Leasing teams will not only find it easier to retain residents, but they can now assure prospects that parking is not a hassle in that community. When leasing is easier, teams can devote time to community-building tasks that offer more benefits.

Ultimately, all of these moves simultaneously reduce costs, improve revenue for owners and operators and reduce their stress as well.

So, whose plate should parking be on? It's pretty simple — everybody's and nobody's. When you look at it from a different perspective, this really isn't about parking. It's about offering solutions that change the way we approach how we handle parking in a community. And, it can go beyond parking to storage spaces and other rentable spaces and amenities. As multifamily evolves, convenience needs to evolve with it.

This is about creating a more harmonious environment for owners, operators, teams and residents. The industry needs to move away from viewing residents only as people who only pay rent and fees to live in a space. It needs to empower residents and allow them take ownership of the spaces they live in, which is the actual meaning of a community.