One way to tackle the housing crisis.

Take the stairs.

That's what Culver City intends to do.

In late September, the city became the first municipality in California to legalize the construction of mid-rise apartment buildings with a single staircase.

Supporters say that could turbocharge urban housing construction at a modest and more affordable scale, while also promoting apartments that are bigger area and better lit.

That's a break from the standard minimum of two staircases connected by a corridor that's required of buildings taller than three stories in nearly every other city in the country.

In Culver City apartments, up to six stories tall, can now be built a.. a single stairwell.

But conditions apply.

These buildings have to be on the small side.

Each floor maxes out at 4000ft# with no more than four units.

They'll also have to abide by an array of added fire prevention measures.

For more than a decade in California, pro-development activists have railed against zoning, which puts restrictions on what can get built where those efforts are beginning to bear fruit.

Earlier this year, Governor Gavin Newsom signed a se.. at clearing legal impediments to apartment construction by nixing the second staircase, those advocates are now focusing on a new set of regulations the building code.

Culver City Council member Bubba Fish introduced the single Stair Ordinance.

This is bigger than a staircase.

The vast majority of the world builds apartments this way.

We are an outlier, he said.

Culver City is on its own for now.

State lawmakers recently passed a bill to freeze local building codes in place for the next six years.

Culver City got its single stair rule pass before the state law went into effect.

But more change could be coming soon.

A 2023 state law directed the state fire marshal to study the state's single stair rules.

That report is due in January.

For CalMatters, I'm Ben Christopher.