Austin debates single-stair, multi-story apartment rules and 'borrowed light' student bedrooms
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Summary
City staff and dozens of speakers discussed proposed 2024 building-code updates that would allow ‘‘single-stair'' apartment buildings up to several stories and considered whether ‘‘borrowed light" or windowless bedrooms should be allowed in multi-bedroom units. Council held a public hearing and will take a second hearing on April 10.
Austin officials and dozens of residents and housing advocates spent Thursday—s meeting debating a proposed local amendment to the 2024 International Building Code that would legalize so-called single-stair apartment buildings and whether the code should continue to allow bedrooms without direct exterior windows to borrow light from adjacent spaces.
Why it matters: Allowing single-stair construction on smaller lots is intended to increase housing supply and create more affordable, human-scaled apartment buildings. Opponents and some public commenters urged caution, citing fire-safety concerns and the need to ensure new buildings provide adequate natural light and healthy sleeping spaces.
What the council heard: The council—s first public hearing on the International Building Code drew large turnout. Supporters — architects, housing advocates and urbanists — argued single-stair buildings are common in cities worldwide, can be designed with fire safety features and produce family-friendly units that fit into established neighborhoods. Architect Chris Gannon told the council the building type "fits well within existing neighborhoods, provide much better units, and most importantly, are safe."
Students and tenant advocates focused on a separate but related concern: the continued allowance of bedroom "borrowed light," where a bedroom lacks an exterior window and instead receives daylight through a frosted opening or borrowed illumination. Justin Lanier of the University Tenants Union said borrowed-light bedrooms harm tenant health and urged council to ban the practice except in one-bedroom units: "Please end the practice of borrowed light for windowless bedrooms citywide now," he said.
Safety, data and compromise: Several technical witnesses, including independent fire-protection engineers, told the council single-stair buildings can be designed to meet modern fire-protection standards but that safety becomes more challenging as height increases. Fire-protection engineer Jeff Shapiro said changes approved at the national model-code level currently under discussion allow single-stair approaches only under specified safeguards and that safety concerns grow above four stories.
Council and staff next steps: The council held a first public hearing; the item will return for a second hearing on April 10 where members may weigh specific language and amendments. Several council members signaled support for an approach that adopts single-stair rules while also addressing borrowed-light protections and reserving study of higher-story limits for future code cycles.
Context: The debate is part of a broader push by council to expand housing types (the "missing middle") and to address affordability, while balancing safety, tenant health and neighborhood character. Advocates pointed to international examples and recent research showing single-stair buildings can be built safely and affordably.
Speakers and advocates: Dozens of speakers testified, including architects, staff from affordable-housing groups, student organizers and fire-safety experts. The University Tenants Union and student advocates pressed specifically for a citywide ban on borrowed-light bedrooms for multi-bedroom units.
