During its regular meeting today, the City Council is expected to vote on a package of parking reforms intended to inch Seattle away from car reliance and toward a more transit-friendly future.

Nearly 90 percent of housing units in Seattle are part of buildings with parking. Meanwhile, about a third of off-street parking spots go unused. Unused space! During a housing crisis! Updating parking policy was one of the recommendations of the Housing Affordability and Livability Agenda.

The legislation hopes to maximize the use of parking spaces through the creation of “flexible-use” zones, allowing lot owners to rent out spots to shoppers, commuters, and other drivers who aren’t tenants of their building.

The bill also increases bike parking, reduces parking requirements for affordable housing, and requires landlords to unbundle parking costs from lease agreements.

Finally, the bill loosens the definition of “frequent transit service” to create more areas where developers aren’t required to build off-street parking.

Supporters of the bill hope it will discourage car use, encourage more people to ride transit, and ultimately, help tackle Seattle’s affordability crisis by reducing costly parking requirements.

"Making parking more expensive and making housing less expensive, I think are really consistent with our values as a city,” council member Rob Johnson said during a committee meeting in March.

Watch the vote live during the 2 p.m. meeting on Seattle Channel: