one regulation I would love to see abolished is the 2 stair case rule

Apr 14, 2025, 12:36 PM

in residential multi-family residential construction. Austin Texas just did this, and will go a long way to skirt beauracracy and push back from municipalities to build more affordable single-family housing.

These laws were written before fire safety regulations had taken hold, and was a quick fix, but the advent of fire-resistant building materials, more builders using CMU over wood construction, and just common sense would suggest this is an outdated code that should be abolished, provided the 20 foot rule is NOT violated, essentially you can not have 20 feet of corridor without building an egress, and that is where the floorplans turn into mazes, limiting design options.

Anyway, this allows builders to stack single-family homes in dense regions with less pushback from the locals. Nobody wants a 4-acre mixed-use built in their neighborhood due to property devaluation and straining the local traffic, and of course you end up with units that are primarily one bedroom because forcing 2 staircases on a builder, without getting into a long drawn out architectural discussion, has only one solution and that is the filing cabinet design, where you only have windows on one side of the unit. Having 1 central staircase allows you 3 corner units, 1 unit with 3 sides of windows, and 1 unit of 1 side with windows. So 3 2 bedrooms, 1 3 bedroom, and a single 1 bedroom. I mean if you are wondering why people are nto having kids, it is due to the lack of affordable multi family units. Nobody wants to raise a family in a filing cabinet they can barely afford.

Also, you do not need to consolidate multiple lots to build dwellings that can maximize profits. If you simply stack single-family homes on top of each other, which can only be done with a single staircase, you can solve the issue of housing prices in dense sprawling areas like San Fran and Austin by builing multiple units on a lot currently suitable for a detached structure.

The first guy that can develop an aesthetically pleasing fire escape, or say a retractable FE that does not dominate the appearance of the building, could start a wonderful business.

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they can build 4 stories with a staircase. the bottom floor is parking, with essentially 3 1 story houses stacked on top of each other. If prices are dropping in Austin it has more to do with lack of demand and high interst rates. San Fran is another great example, it has miles of urban sprawl surrounding downtown. You could double the occupancy of the city by rescinding this code, which would also bring down prices of new construction being that in a city like SanFran, the majority of the cost is in land value and not the actual cost of construction.

Here is an example. This is 3 small single-family homes stacked. Unless you have an exterior staircase, it is in violation of current building codes. But it maximises land usage and is not an eyesore for the rest of the community worried about their property values. And being a single lot, much easier for a developer to just buy a single plot of land and increase RIO, all while bringing prices down.

I wholly support TBalms

Teslas need multiple stair cases. #### things always on fire.***

one regulation I would love to see abolished is the 2 stair case rule

Probably worth noting

Re: Probably worth noting

I wholly support TBalms

Teslas need multiple stair cases. #### things always on fire.***

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