Can one stairwell help solve Virginia’s housing crisis? Lawmakers think so

by Charlotte Rene Woods, Virginia Mercury
February 28, 2025

Virginia’s next building code update isn’t until 2027, but lawmakers are already eyeing tweaks that could unlock more housing — particularly on vacant or underutilized urban lots.

One idea gaining traction is allowing certain multi-unit buildings over three stories to be constructed with a single stairwell instead of two. The move could help developers maximize space on smaller parcels, making it easier to add new housing in dense areas.

Sen. Schuyler VanValkenburg, D-Henrico, who pushed for the advisory group that studied the idea last year, said the goal is to encourage infill development — building on empty or underused city lots. 

“I think the main goal was just trying to keep the attention on it and I think it was certainly successful in that,” VanValkenburg said. “Now the next step is just to wait for the building code rewrite, and then I plan on being pretty vocal.”

But making such a change isn’t as simple as eliminating a staircase. The advisory group had to wrestle with fire safety concerns, outlining additional protections that could accompany single-staircase buildings.

Potential requirements from the work group’s recommendations include using noncombustible materials for structures over three stories, capping the number of occupants per floor, increasing sprinkler density, and adding advanced smoke detection in common areas. 

Last year, Fairfax fire marshal and advisory group member Steven Sites noted a gap in state code: common spaces in apartment-style buildings lack fire detector requirements. He suspected the advisory group’s discussions would lead to a push for those protections.

VanValkenburg sees the group’s work as a test of whether a coalition can reach consensus on housing solutions. 

“It might be a good test case of ‘can a coalition get-to-yes’ or do we let individual groups shut down policy changes?” he said.

New research from Pew suggests fire safety concerns may not be a dealbreaker.

The study found that from 2012 to 2024, the fire death rate in New York City’s more than 4,000 modern single-stair buildings was the same as in other residential buildings. In that period, New York and Seattle recorded a total of four fire-related deaths in such buildings.

Meanwhile, VanValkenburg has pointed to cities like Seattle, Washington, New York, and Honolulu, which all allow single-staircase buildings up to six stories, as proof that Virginia can follow suit. These buildings require considerations like square footage limits, unit caps per floor, and specific fire safety measures.

Other states are already moving ahead. Tennessee passed a law last year allowing localities to adopt code sections permitting single-stairwell residential buildings up to six stories. VanValkenburg argues Virginia should be next, especially given the national housing shortage and rising rents.

That urgency drove lawmakers to introduce several bills in the recent legislative session to tackle housing affordability.

Some, like Senate Bill 812 from Sen. Aaron Rouse, D-Virginia Beach — which extends rent payment grace periods — cleared the legislature and await the governor’s approval. Others, including proposals from VanValkenburg and Del. Dan Helmer, D-Fairfax, to encourage localities to expand housing supply, failed. 

The failed bills underscored a familiar tension: local control versus state intervention in solving Virginia’s housing crisis. Sen. Glenn Sturtevant, R-Chesterfield, warned that state intervention “might be an erosion of local control.”

But VanValkenburg argues that tackling the housing supply crisis requires some level of state involvement, although it means “telling localities what to do, and people get uncomfortable with that.”

His bill attempted a middle ground — offering localities flexibility to show progress on housing without imposing a rigid mandate. However, if a locality failed to take action, the state would have had the authority to override zoning decisions.

Much like his work with the single-stair advisory group, VanValkenburg plans to engage local governments, residents and organizations across political lines and in communities of all sizes over the next year to build support for another attempt.

He emphasized that boosting housing availability isn’t just about affordability — it’s about economic growth. More housing means attracting and retaining workers, strengthening local economies, and bolstering tax revenues.

“I personally think (housing issues are) the biggest problem facing the state over the next decade, and so I plan on working that target bill pretty hard,” he said.

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