In a move to make it easier to build more affordable, family-sized units, the Los Angeles City Council on Wednesday, April 2, laid the groundwork for allowing single-staircases in six-story apartment buildings.

The proposal, initiated by council members Nithya Raman and Katy Yaroslavsky and approved on a 14-0 vote, directs city agencies to return within 90 days with proposed changes to the city’s building code. The plan would permit a single-exit, single-stairwell layout, departing from longstanding requirements for double staircases in multifamily buildings.

Supporters said the change could unlock more flexible floor plans, better access to natural light and ventilation, and ultimately make it easier to produce mid-rise buildings with larger, more affordable units—something housing advocates say is sorely missing in the city’s housing mix.

“I’m very excited about today’s passage,” Raman said in an interview after the meeting. “ I think it could lower the cost of construction, it could yield bigger apartments, family-sized units, and it could make buildings more beautiful while still maintaining safety. So what’s not to like?”

Raman said the idea stemmed from frequent complaints she hears about new housing in Los Angeles—namely that many new buildings offer only studios or one-bedrooms and often appear boxy or out of place in neighborhoods.

According to the city’s most recent Housing Element, just 14% of rental homes in Los Angeles have three bedrooms or more, compared with 70% of owner-occupied homes.

She said she came to realize that part of the problem lies in a long-standing requirement for two staircases in multi-family buildings, which limits how units can be laid out and how buildings are designed.

“Now that we have extensive sprinkler rules and new kinds of building materials that are far more fire resistant than they were a century ago, the regulations for dual staircases really are not necessary to guarantee the level of fire safety that we currently require in our buildings,” Raman said.

For some longtime renters, the potential for larger, more livable apartments resonates.

Maebe Girl, who has lived in a Silver Lake apartment for about 12 years, said safety is the top priority, but sees promise in the proposal. While it requires further review, Girl said it’s encouraging to see the city taking steps to streamline development.

“I  think overall we need to be able to build buildings faster, especially if we’re gonna be able to tackle the housing crisis and try to get as many people housed as possible,” Girl said. “If it impacts the speed at which buildings can be developed and built without compromising safety, then I’m all for it.”

Los Angeles isn’t alone in rethinking how apartment buildings are designed. In response to the affordable housing crisis, a growing number of large cities are considering updates to building codes that would allow single-stairwell designs.

Eighteen jurisdictions across the U.S. and Canada are exploring similar reforms. Cities like New York and Seattle already allow single-staircase buildings over three stories, while San Francisco and San Diego are considering code updates of their own.

But the shift has stirred a debate nationwide, with some fire officials and safety personnel arguing that reducing the number of stairwells could pose serious safety risks during emergencies—both for residents and for first responders trying to access or evacuate a building.

“When you start to get to a fifth and sixth story, in some areas, that really pushes the ability of the fire department to reach those people,” said Jon Hart, a fire protection engineer at National Fire Protection Association (NFPA), a nonprofit that develops widely used fire safety codes and standards.

NFPA guidelines permit single-stair designs up to four stories, while the International Building Code limits them to three stories, according to him. Hart said expanding that to six stories raises concerns, especially if done without local analysis.

He said the growing interest in single-stair designs is driven by the housing crisis, and it’s understandable that policymakers are seeking solutions. But changes that affect life safety, he said, should go through the formal code development process—where fire experts, data, and research guide the outcome.

Hart added that cities like New York have adopted single-staircase buildings only under very specific conditions, including fast emergency response times and robust fire infrastructure. He said those standards shouldn’t be assumed to work everywhere.

Locally, the initiative has sparked opposition from the Greater Toluca Lake Neighborhood Council who submitted a letter to the Los Angeles City Council, in which it calls the proposal an example of “bad ideas being passed off as ‘Reforms.’”

Tess Taylor, president of the Greater Toluca Lake Neighborhood Council, said on Wednesday, “The ordinance will compromise the safety of all tenants in the building, so that the density bonus occupants can obtain a larger living room. That orientation is backwards.”

Raman said she spoke with fire department officials before putting the motion forward.  While they didn’t provide a written report, she said they were comfortable with the proposal and open to exploring how it could be implemented without compromising safety standards.

“As the policy moves forward, they will be formally consulted before we make any kind of change,” she said. “So I don’t anticipate any pushback from the fire department, but I look forward to hearing their feedback, of course.”

The next step, Raman said, is for city departments to return with a report and recommendations on how to revise the building code. Any official changes would still need to be reviewed and approved by the City Council.

Los Angeles Daily News reached out to the Los Angeles Fire Department for comments, but had not heard back as of press deadline.