YIMBYs say that\u2019s thin gruel.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The city\u2019s building code wouldn\u2019t change, which they argue is necessary for any reform to have a meaningful effect on development. DBI\u2019s committee may take a nonbinding vote or make revisions to those recommendations \u2014 but the process for how inspectors sign off on projects does not change.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Allowing single-stair buildings outright would require an ordinance passed by the Board of Supervisors. No such policy has been proposed.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Housing advocates and building experts decried Friday\u2019s announcement as hollow. \u201cThis is the case of doing nothing and trying to get a headline out of it,\u201d architect Mark Hogan wrote on X (opens in new tab)<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n Corey Smith, executive director of Housing Action Coalition, tweeted (opens in new tab)<\/a> in response that \u201cany framing that this is single stair reform in SF is factually inaccurate.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Aside from the Chronicle article (opens in new tab)<\/a>, which reported that the mayor and DBI \u201cissued a set of new rules\u201d last week, neither office released any official statement to accompany or address Lurie\u2019s tweet.\u00a0<\/p>\n A spokesperson for the mayor said he stands by his announcement, which stated that San Francisco for years has made it easier to block housing than to build it. One of several fixes involves fixing the \u201cbroken permitting system.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Emilio Garcia-Ruiz, editor-in-chief of the Chronicle, said the paper stood by its reporting in response to The Standard\u2019s questions about the story\u2019s phrasing that day.\u00a0<\/p>\n A spokesperson for DBI said an information sheet containing the proposed changes was posted to the department\u2019s website on Thursday, a day before the Chronicle\u2019s story was published.\u00a0<\/p>\n The San Francisco Fire Department \u2014 which has been resistant to lowering safety standards<\/a> \u2014\u00a0has privately pushed back against a single-stair ordinance, sources familiar with those discussions say.<\/p>\n \u201cWe are encouraged by the inclusion of additional safety measures and believe this approach can benefit all parties while keeping public safety at the forefront,\u201d said a Fire Department spokesperson.\u00a0<\/p>\n Single-stair reform has long been a holy-grail issue for YIMBYs seeking to spur housing development. In a 2024 essay (opens in new tab)<\/a>, Hogan called for San Francisco to change its building code so that developers could fit more units onto small lots. Hogan argued that the United States is an outlier in its guidelines that all mid-rise apartment buildings should have two staircases, and many other countries allow buildings with only one.\u00a0<\/p>\n The logic for staircase reform is that modern sprinklers and fire-resistant construction methods have made it safe for residents to live in a building with one stairway. Carving out space for a second staircase and connecting corridor swallows up areas that could otherwise be used for housing.\u00a0<\/p>\n Other U.S. cities have come around. Seattle, New York City, and Culver City allow single-stair buildings up to six stories.\u00a0<\/p>\n Complicating the matter, Gov. Gavin Newsom last year signed AB 130, which freezes residential building codes until 2031, meaning cities cannot simply rewrite their rules to allow single-stair buildings. Culver City passed its reform (opens in new tab)<\/a> a day before that law went into effect.\u00a0<\/p>\n Lurie\u2019s announcement was not the first time single-staircase reform has been seriously considered. After Hogan published his essay, former Supervisor Aaron Peskin called on the city (opens in new tab)<\/a> to figure out how it could build single-stair buildings that are safe for residents. <\/p>\n \u201cIt went over like a lead balloon,\u201d Peskin said.\u00a0<\/p>\n A working group composed of representatives from the Fire Department, Planning Department, Mayor Breed\u2019s office, and DBI met several times, according to a report. The group was briefly reconvened this year, sources say.<\/p>\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/1792064437_785_-S3840x2561-FPNG.png\"\/)
Any proposed apartment building currently requires two staircases. | Source: Sean Fan\/The Standard<\/p>\n