Overview / Single-stair reform

The single-staircase reform just went federal.

Section 102 of the ROAD Act puts the U.S. government behind one of the housing-reform movement's favorite ideas: the point-access block — an apartment building served by a single internal stairway, up to six stories. HUD now has 18 months (until about January 11, 2028) to publish model code language, best practices, and technical guidance that states and cities can adopt.

Why one staircase matters

Most U.S. building codes require two separate stairways in apartment buildings above two or three stories. That single rule quietly shapes what gets built:

• Two stairs force long double-loaded corridors, which push buildings toward large, block-scale footprints. Small infill lots — the kind scattered through every city — often can't fit a code-compliant apartment building at all.
• Corridors and second stair shafts consume 15–20% of floor area that could be homes, worsening per-unit costs.
• Single-stair designs allow apartments with windows on multiple sides — the family-sized, cross-ventilated floor plans common in Europe, where single-stair mid-rises are standard.

Seattle has allowed single-stair buildings to six stories for decades; several states and cities have recently enacted or piloted similar reforms. Fire-safety debates are real and ongoing — which is why the statute leans into them rather than past them.

What the law actually requires

• Guidelines within 18 months: HUD must issue model code language, best practices, and technical guidance for permitting point-access block residential buildings, defined as Group R-2 buildings (the standard apartment classification) where a single internal stairway serves buildings up to six stories.
• Safety front and center: in writing the guidelines HUD must consider sprinkler coverage, smoke detection, ventilation, egress performance, domestic and international single-stair codes already in use, and alternative passive/active safety measures — consulting fire marshals, architects, researchers, and officials in jurisdictions that have already done it.
• ICC coordination: HUD must work with the International Code Council to get point-access block provisions into the International Building Code — the model code most U.S. jurisdictions adopt. This is the quiet lever: change the IBC and the default changes everywhere.
• Pilot grants: HUD may fund competitive pilot projects that demonstrate or validate the safety, feasibility, and cost-effectiveness of single-stair buildings (program sunsets after 7 years).
• No preemption: nothing in the section overrides state or local building codes. Cities keep full control; the federal role is guidance, evidence, and model language.

What changes, realistically

Nothing about your city's code changes automatically. What changes is the default burden of the debate: reform advocates arrive at city hall with federal model code language, HUD-vetted safety analysis, and possibly pilot data instead of pointing at Seattle and Vienna. If the ICC incorporates point-access blocks into a future IBC cycle, single-stair mid-rises become the baseline that jurisdictions would have to opt out of rather than into. On small urban lots, that's the difference between a viable 12-unit building and nothing.

Dates to watch

• ≈ January 11, 2028: HUD's guidelines are due (18 months after enactment).
• Next IBC code cycles: whether point-access block provisions make it into the International Building Code.
• ≈ 2033: pilot grant program sunsets (7 years).

Related: Title I explained (including infill environmental-review exemptions in § 103 that pair naturally with this reform), or the official bill text.