Culver City becomes first California city to allow six-story apartment buildings with just one staircase.
Culver City becomes first California city to allow six-story apartment buildings with just one staircase.
www.latimes.com
One California city’s idea to tackle the housing crisis: Take the stairs
But... Why?
Developers and land owners do not give a fuck about anything other than money.
Modern fire safety standards in other countries allow for it, so it stands to reason that it should be possible to do in the U.S as well.
Relevant video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iRdwXQb7CfM
I'm, I guess this is where we say "and if all your friends jumped off a bridge would you?"
Just because it's ok somewhere else doesn't mean it's ok, but even if we accept that argument I think we need to actually frame it in context.
American cities largely lack whats called the "missing middle" of housing. Lots of single family homes, lots of big apartment buildings, but not a lot of 3-6 unit apartments. This amplifies the housing shortage, encourages urban sprawl, and forces car dependency.
This is caused by a few factors, but the requirement for all apartments to have 2 staircases is a big one. The requirement was originally made back in the day when house fires were a big issue. Now, house fires are mainly an issue in single family homes and cars. Apartment fires aren't really an issue at all, and they make the news if they happen.
Modern codes for wiring, smoke detectors, and sprinkler systems render an extra staircase unnecessary, and by forcing people who could live in an apartment in the city to instead commute from a single family homes in the suburbs, the codes actually increase deaths by fire.