HOUSING, WORKING & BUSINESS
COMMENTARY

How allowing single-staircase buildings could change Virginia’s housing market

WYATT GORDON
MAY 5, 2022 12:03 AM

Given the decades-long decline in new housing construction and the resultant skyrocketing of rents and home prices across the commonwealth, the need for more homes has become a consensus position in Virginia. However, even those who support increasing housing construction have mixed feelings about the dominant design of the times: 5-over-1 buildings — so named for the number of wood-framed residential floors over the concrete, often retail-filled ground floor.

Such massive, boxy apartment buildings are all too often the only type of structures developers are interested in erecting due to the demands of the state’s building codes. A proposal to alter such standards heard before a Department of Housing and Community Development building code stakeholder committee last month may soon offer alternatives. If a rule to allow new construction to have a single staircase up to six stories is approved, then smaller buildings that better foster community among residents could begin popping up in cities and towns across the commonwealth.

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