Downtown Charlottesville at Night. Photo by Hugh Kenney

The current statewide building code requires two sets of internal stairs in all multi-family buildings above three stories. That code makes smaller multi-family buildings more difficult and expensive to construct and prevents construction on smaller parcels more suitable to urban infill development. As a result, home builders in Virginia have focused on building large, single-family detached houses, encouraging development outward instead of in-fill development, worsening urban sprawl. Developers’ other option is to build massive apartment buildings which consume entire city blocks due to these restrictive staircase regulations. Right now, the housing market is missing the smaller, more affordable homes like duplexes, quadplexes, and smaller apartment buildings many are looking for. For families, finding a place to rent or buy with sufficient bedrooms–while still being affordable–is a serious challenge.

The new law will open the conversation to possibly changing current regulations to allow for single-exit staircases in apartment houses under six stories in height. This will empower the construction of more affordable family-sized apartments and condos.

Single-stair construction is a safe and sustainable method of residential construction. Modern fire safety measures such as fire-resistant building materials, sprinkler systems, and secondary fire escapes mitigate fire risk and protect building occupants. Unlike most buildings built today in the US with two internal staircases and a corridor with apartments only on either side, single-stair apartments up to six stories can easily accommodate a larger number of bedrooms for families.

HB 368/SB 195: (Delegate McClure/Senator VanValkenburg) Directs the Board of Housing and Community Development to form a working group of stakeholders, including fire code officials, aimed at assessing the safety of permitting residential apartment houses between three to six stories tall to have a single exit staircase. The advisory group will submit a report with findings and recommendations no later than December 1, 2024.

The new legislation will encourage the construction of more affordable family-sized apartments and condos in the Commonwealth, particularly in the denser urban cores of Virginia’s cities and towns. The potential for more housing options can make the housing market more affordable for everyone. Furthermore, the single-exit staircase can slow urban sprawl, helping conserve environmentally sensitive and biologically diverse areas.

Every Virginian deserves a safe, affordable place to live, and reforming multiple-stair requirements will improve quality housing access across the Commonwealth.