Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer has signed legislation permitting single-stairway construction in multifamily residential buildings, according to Housing Wire, marking a meaningful shift in how the state regulates apartment development. The new law creates a two-tier framework: one measure authorizes single-stair design in buildings up to four stories, while a second extends that allowance through six stories, with the latter contingent on the former having passed. Both provisions are structured as interim rules, set to sunset once Michigan’s Department of Labor and Economic Opportunity formally adopts the International Code Council’s own single-stairway standards. Advocates argue the change will reduce costs on infill projects where constrained lot sizes limit design flexibility, freeing floor area previously consumed by a second stairwell to accommodate additional or larger units. Michigan joins Colorado, Texas, Montana, and others that have already enacted comparable reforms.
ParkPoint Perspective
The broadening adoption of single-stair codes across U.S. states is a signal that construction cost reduction is increasingly being pursued through regulatory reform rather than subsidy alone. For investors focused on supply-constrained infill markets, this type of code change can meaningfully shift project economics — improving unit yield on constrained footprints and lowering per-unit replacement cost thresholds. The Connecticut case cited in the article, where enacted reform was later repealed under fire-official pressure, is a useful reminder that execution risk in code-dependent development strategies extends beyond the jobsite into the regulatory environment itself.
Source: New York YIMBY