Building standards from the mid-1900s are holding back progress on housing. The Colorado Legislature has passed HB 1273, which would bring Colorado building standards into the modern era by allowing Colorado communities with sufficient fire protection district capabilities to build Smart Stair apartments that arrange units around a centralized staircase, rather than squeezing multiple units in between two exterior staircases.

Smart Stair Buildings:

• Provide an opportunity for larger, family-friendly units: Current building codes require a central hallway connecting two exit stairs, which results in far more studios and one-bedroom apartments, since units can only have windows on one side. Smart Stair Buildings eliminate that need and can fill the growing demand for larger family-sized and multi-generational two- to four-bedroom units.
• Require less space: These modern buildings fit on 1-2 standard single-family residential lots, blending into the existing scale of residential neighborhoods and making it easier to build on challenging infill sites.
• Are more affordable to build: The addition of just one staircase to a building adds up to 13% to total development costs, which can make a small apartment project financially infeasible to build without significant public subsidy.