“To require the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development to establish Federal guidelines for point-access block buildings, and for other purposes.”
No CRS summary available for this bill.
This section directs the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), not later than 18 months after enactment, to issue guidelines providing States, territories, Tribes, and localities with model code language, best practices, and technical guidance to facilitate permitting of point-access block residential buildings (i.e., Group R-2 occupancies up to five stories served by a single internal stairway). In developing the guidelines, the Secretary must consider fire safety (e.g., sprinklers, smoke detection), construction costs and housing affordability, consumer flexibility, jurisdictional examples, research, expert consultations, and alternative compliance methods; requires coordination with the International Code Council to incorporate such provisions into the International Building Code; and authorizes competitive grants to eligible entities (e.g., States, localities, developers, researchers) for pilot projects evaluating safety, feasibility, and cost-effectiveness of these buildings. This section clarifies that it does not preempt State or local building codes.