How many parking spaces does my project need in Houston?
For a single-family home, Houston generally requires 2 off-street parking spaces per dwelling unit. That drops to 1 space if the unit is 1,500 square feet or smaller, and to zero if it is 1,000 square feet or smaller and meets narrow-lot, no-driveway conditions. A second dwelling unit on the same lot needs 0 additional spaces if it is 1,000 square feet or smaller, or 1 additional space if it is 1,001 to 1,500 square feet — but both of those figures depend on the first unit already meeting its own off-street parking requirement, which Sec. 42-186(b) makes a condition of each. A fractional requirement of 0.5 or more rounds up.
Applies toNew single-family residential subdivision plats and development plats in Houston, under Sec. 42-186. Sec. 42-186(f) provides that a commission variance to a chapter 42 parking requirement is also a variance to “the same parking requirement in Chapter 26”, which presupposes a parallel requirement in the single-family residential row of Chapter 26's own use-classification parking table (Sec. 26-492, Class 2.b). This page does NOT cover parking for any other use classification — apartments, offices, retail stores, restaurants, and dozens of others each have their own figure in Sec. 26-492 that is not reproduced here. It also does not cover reduced-parking programs (transit-oriented development streets, historic buildings, shared parking, bicycle-space credits, special parking areas) or loading-berth requirements, which are separate sections of Chapter 26, Article VIII.
The market-based parking area does not switch this off. Sec. 26-471(b)(6) and (7) provide that division 2 of Chapter 26, Article VIII — which is where the Sec. 26-492 table lives — does not apply to a building or tract within the market-based parking area or along a primary transit-oriented development street. The city describes that as a 100 percent parking reduction, and for a use priced by the Sec. 26-492 table it is.
Single-family residential is not only priced by that table. Sec. 42-186 states its own requirement, in chapter 42, and carries no equivalent exception — it reaches “each subdivision plat or development plat providing for a single-family residential use” without qualification as to where. An applicability provision in chapter 26 does not reach into chapter 42, and Sec. 26-471(d) points the same way: a chapter 42 parking requirement is treated as an additional requirement rather than a displaced one.
So a single-family development inside the market-based parking area should not assume the requirement is zero. We read Sec. 42-186 as continuing to apply on its own terms. That is a reading of how two chapters interact rather than something either states outright, and it is worth putting to the Planning and Development Department before you rely on it in either direction.
What the code says
(a) Each subdivision plat or development plat providing for a single-family residential use shall provide at least two off-street parking spaces per dwelling unit on each lot with the following exceptions: (1) for a dwelling unit that is not more than 1500 square feet, only one space shall be required per dwelling unit; or (2) for a dwelling unit that is less than or equal to 1000 square feet, no off-street parking is required when all of the following criteria are met: a. the lot has less than 33 feet of public street frontage, b. 100 percent of the unit has occupiable space fronting the street, and c. driveway access from the public street is not permitted, and shall be reflected on the plat and building permit.
Houston Code of Ordinances — Parking for single-family residential uses — §42-186(a)
· Read the full code
Common questions
Do Chapter 42 and Chapter 26 ever require different numbers of spaces for the same house?
No. Sec. 42-186(f) states that a variance the commission grants to a parking requirement in Chapter 42 is also a variance to the same requirement in Chapter 26 — the single-family residential figures in both chapters are meant to be read as one requirement, not two independent ones.
What about parking for a duplex, apartment building, or a commercial project?
Those follow different rows of Sec. 26-492's use-classification table — for example, an apartment's requirement scales by bedroom count per dwelling unit, and an office's requirement scales by square footage. This page covers only the single-family residential figures; see the full Sec. 26-492 table for every other use classification.
This is how the code reads; confirm with the city — or ask a builder who's actually pulled this permit in Houston.
The authoritative text is the
Houston Code of Ordinances;
permitting questions go to
Houston Permitting Center.