Dive Brief:
- A California bill headed to committee this month would direct the state’s Department of Housing and Community Development to propose new building standards that would allow single-staircase multifamily buildings up to six stories high. California currently requires two staircases in multifamily buildings above three stories.
- Assemblymember Alex Lee, the bill’s sponsor, said eliminating the second staircase mandate for buildings up to six stories high — as cities including New York and Seattle have done — will make it easier to build housing and reduce construction costs.
- A March 2 report by the Office of the State Fire Marshal maintained the importance of a second staircase for firefighters and recommended single-staircases in buildings up to four stories, one story higher than currently allowed, rather than the proposed six stories.
Dive Insight:
As local governments look for how they might ease the time and expense of constructing housing, measures to ease longstanding two-staircase requirements are ramping up.
Last year, seven states passed single-staircase reforms, according to The Pew Charitable Trusts. Culver City, California, became the first city in the state to allow single staircases last year. Such reforms could cut construction costs by up to 13%, Pew found.
“Stairway requirements can have a profound effect on what does and does not get built in our neighborhoods,” Lee said in a news release. “Many countries worldwide have already legalized mid-rise apartments with one staircase that maintain robust, modern fire prevention measures.”
The California state fire marshal’s report acknowledges that modern fire safety measures such as sprinkler systems, smoke detection and passive smoke control strategies can reduce risks. However, such measures “do not fully substitute for the redundancy of two independent stairways,” according to the report. “The presence of an additional exit is important for maintaining safety in the face of unforeseen failures, fire spread, or structural compromise.”
Another Pew study last year found single-staircase apartment buildings maintain strong safety records.
Correction: This article was updated to clarify that single-staircase research was conducted by The Pew Charitable Trusts.
