COUNCIL ADOPTS MOTION TO REMOVE DOUBLE STAIRCASE REQUIREMENT FROM BUILDING CODE

For Immediate Release: April 2, 2025

Los Angeles, CA – Today, the Los Angeles City Council adopted a motion introduced by Councilmembers Nithya Raman and Katy Yaroslavsky to update the City’s Building Code to remove an outdated requirement for apartment buildings to have double stairwells, allowing for the development of more affordable family-sized units. These requirements – born out of early 20th century planning concerns – have since become a hindrance to creating larger units with greater natural light and ventilation and buildings with enhanced green space. Today’s legislation begins the process to update the City’s Building Code to allow for multifamily residential buildings up to six stories to be built with a single stairwell, providing greater flexibility in housing construction across the City. 

The City’s most recent Housing Element estimates that just 14% of the city’s rental homes have three bedrooms or more, compared with 70% of owner-occupied homes. As a majority renter-city, the lack of available family-sized apartments has resulted in severe overcrowding, with most apartment units housing more people than there are rooms. One of the most significant barriers to building larger units in Los Angeles has been the failure to update state and local building codes to reflect modern safety improvements and building techniques. However, studies have shown that increased safety features like sprinklers and fire-resistant materials have since rendered the need for multiple staircases obsolete, and major cities across the country, including New York and Seattle, now allow for the development of single-stairwell buildings over three stories. 

“This outdated requirement makes it almost impossible for young families in the City of Los Angeles to find affordable apartments with the space they need,” said Councilmember Raman. “For those who aren’t able to find a home at their price point, moving out of the city may feel like their only option. I want to make it possible for these families to stay!

”A lot of the time, the reason new buildings look the way they do—big, boxy, and with only one or two bedrooms per unit—is because that’s what the rules require,” said Councilwoman Yaroslavsky. “This motion is about clearing out some of those outdated regulations so it’s actually easier to build the kind of housing people want to see in their neighborhoods. It makes it possible to design buildings with more light, more space, and more units that work for families, without compromising on safety and while keeping costs down. It’s a smart, practical step that just makes sense.”

Following today’s vote, the Department of Building and Safety (LADBS), in consultation with the Los Angeles Fire Department (LAFD) and the Department of City Planning (DCP), will have 90 days to present modifications to the City’s Building Code in order to allow for single-exit, single-stairway, multifamily unit residential buildings up to six stories.

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