Efforts currently underway to amend existing building and construction codes in order to create more affordable housing could soon be boosted via the removal of a long-held and potentially outdated requirement—the need for two egress routes in multifamily buildings with heights up to six stories.

At least ten states and a number of other larger cities are considering such reforms as we enter the new year, armed with the confidence that better fire safety technology and building materials can eliminate the sometimes costly code requirement at a crucial time.

In the Texas state capital of Austin for example, the city council has already approved a code change that allows for single-stair construction in new multifamily buildings up to six levels. 

"[Point Access Blocks] are well suited to small- and medium-scale parcels, and with one less stair, and way less hallway, can achieve much higher floor plan efficiencies than their double-loaded counterparts," a 2024 report on Boston's market from Utile, Inc. and the Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies states bluntly. 

Therefore, the year ahead should provide a valuable litmus test for the ability of reformers to "translate legislative curiosity into building code text, and then into new homes for the housing-starved residents of America’s cities" says another from the D.C.-based environmental think tank Nisaken Center.

(British Columbia can be observed as another case study after implementing the changes in the provincial building code last August.)