Cost effective options for repair of stairs

[Shawn Mix]

Long time member, first post! 

Was just reading the following article: https://www.biggerpockets.com/... which was a great read through. Mostly table stakes of what I've learned already over owning a property for about 3 years now. Something caught my eye at the end about Landlord Insurance and potentially covering the cost of alternative housing while repairs are completed on the property for a tenant. This got me thinking, that perhaps this could be something I should look into for a repair I need to perform. Hoping some folks here might be able to shed some inputs on whether this specifically can help, or if there are other options that I should look into? Details below on the situation.

I have a 3 family home in CT. There are front/rear entrances for all 3 tenants. The rear of the building has a ground level door to the first unit, stairs that go up to the second unit, and those same stairs make it all the way up to the third unit. On the front side, there is a ground level entrance to the first floor, second floor has stairs up, and the third floor has a balcony porch with the "rope ladder" emergency stair option. So I guess technically it passes as there is a second egress, albeit nobody plans to use it unless there is an emergency.

The home is quite a bit old (1800s) and the rear stairs should be replaced in the next 5 years likely due to some rotting that has taken place and some improper care over the years. My issue as you may have now understood, is that the third floor REALLY only has one viable entrance/exit to their apartment. To replace the rear stairs, we will need to have them out of the unit for a few weeks at least to get the work done. Second floor can just use the front stairs, and first floor is unaffected - minus construction to be worried about. Would Landlord Insurance be a viable avenue to subsidize the cost of my third floor tenants living in a local hotel for a few weeks while repairs are completed? Or does anyone have other thoughts on creative options for a cost effective approach? My best option so far was to play the work to start as they go on a vacation, but with COVID that isn't likely anytime soon! 😄

Thanks in advance!