This week marked a regulatory milestone for missing middle housing in Oklahoma. The Oklahoma Uniform Building Code Commission (OUBCC) advanced several building code reforms: legalizing single-stair buildings up to four stories, allowing four-unit homes to be built under residential code requirements, and matching sprinkler standards to the scale of small apartment buildings. These changes reflect Housing Forward's research and policy recommendations.

Building codes are the quiet infrastructure of housing policy. Updating outdated code provisions is one of the most direct ways to expand housing supply and choice in Oklahoma, and it does so without compromising the life-safety and accessibility outcomes that protect residents.