Elevators are rising to the top among housing abundance proposals in play in Olympia.
The Washington State Legislature is considering a myriad of proposals targeting the issue of housing affordability, but one under-appreciated idea in particular could provide a lift: elevator reform. On Wednesday, a short but potentially very impactful bill passed the Senate by an overwhelming 42-6 vote.
Senate Bill 5156, sponsored by Senator Jesse Salomon (D-32nd, Shoreline) attempts to make Washington State a leader on elevator reform. The bill directs Washington’s Department of Labor and Industries to adopt new standards for elevators in all buildings, specifically allowing smaller elevators in buildings six stories or shorter, with 24 units or less.
Elevators are an important factor in multifamily housing construction. The state’s rigorous standards drive up the cost of housing in the name of access for disabled people and emergency responders. Too often the result is that people with disabilities cannot afford to live in large new buildings with deluxe elevators because housing costs remain so high, while smaller buildings may offer no elevator at all.
As is the case across most of the United States and Canada, Washington’s elevator codes are one-size-fits-all. When an elevator is required in a new apartment building, it has to be large enough to provide space for a 24-inch by 84-inch ambulance stretcher in all cases, with the goal of enabling efficient emergency response.
Compared to European elevator standards, which often only require an elevator to accommodate someone seated in a wheelchair with an attendant, these requirements often limit the number of elevators a developer will choose to include in a building, or whether homebuilders decide to construct an elevator at all in smaller buildings below the legal threshold of requiring one, which usually kick in once new construction hits four stories in height.
“Right now, either you have to create a large elevator where you can lay down a gurney in case of emergency, in these buildings, or none at all,” Salomon said introducing his bill in January. “Creating such a large elevator takes up too much space from units, and so it’s just not realistic that we’re going to get things built that way, although we may get some built without elevators — that currently exists in Seattle — neither of which are ideal. So we have to allow, in my opinion, European-sized elevators.”
Two years ago, Salomon sponsored another bill directing the state’s building code council to convene a taskforce with the goal of allowing larger multifamily buildings with only one stairwell, a move that would more align the state code with what’s uniquely allowed in Seattle. That single stair reform made Seattle a national leader in allowing slimmer multifamily buildings on narrow lots that maximize livable space, but, without elevator reform, many of the new types of buildings that are likely to result from that change will continue to be inaccessible.
“Our codes mandate really large elevators that are extremely difficult to squeeze into a small building footprint, and even if they would fit, they usually end up cost prohibitive, so builders opt to not install an elevator at all,” the Sightline Institute’s Dan Bertolet said. “And so you have the situation in which all the homes above the first floor are then inaccessible to anyone who can’t use stairs.”
Stephen Smith, the executive director of the Center for Building in North America, broke down some of the regulations that contribute to the high cost of elevators in the US in a detailed report, released last year. Cabin size is a big factor, along with technical codes and regulations unique to the US and Canada. More intractable issues like the cost of labor will likely persist without systemic changes.
“The bottom line is that elevators in the U.S. cost three times what they do in Western Europe, and this is even after adjusting for higher cost-of-living. As a result, we have many fewer elevators than you find in Western Europe,” Smith told the Senate housing committee at SB 5156’s public hearing. “There are practically no new walk up apartment buildings in Western Europe, while they are still common in the United States and in Washington State. It’s not good for disabled people, it’s not good for elderly people. It’s not good for parents of young children. It’s not good for first responders. The situation is unbecoming of a country as wealthy as we are.”
The bill has faced some push back from firefighter advocates worried about emergency responders accessing the upper floors of larger buildings where full-sized elevators would be otherwise be required.
“We are severely concerned about the impacts, especially going up to six stories with an elevator that’s only able to accommodate a wheelchair,” Steve Brooks, executive director for the Washington Fire Chiefs, said. “As it’s currently written, we have great concerns that someone on a sixth floor of a building, who is the most severely ill or injured and would therefore be unable to be in a seated position, even on a folded gurney, would potentially require being carried down six flights of stairs.”
Given the fact that many more buildings are likely to be made accessible if Washington is able to get elevator reform right, those concerns have not hindered the bill, and it was able to advance with significant bipartisan support. Notably, all six “no” votes against SB 5156 Wednesday came from Democrats, including Javier Valdez (46th, Seattle), Vandana Slatter (48th, Bellevue) and Tina Orwall (31st, SeaTac). That bloc of eight provided no justification for their opposition on the Senate floor.
“The important thing is that we’re allowing a little creativity,” Senator Keith Goehner (R-12th, Leavenworth) said ahead of the final vote. “So often our regulations make it cost-prohibitive to do something that could be a nice amenity, and this bill allows for that to happen.”
Ryan Packer has been writing for The Urbanist since 2015, and currently reports full-time as Contributing Editor. Their beats are transportation, land use, public space, traffic safety, and obscure community meetings. Packer has also reported for other regional outlets including Capitol Hill Seattle, BikePortland, Seattle Met, and PubliCola. They live in the Capitol Hill neighborhood of Seattle.