Mayor says law is needed to protect residents living in SF's soft-story buildings

On Friday, Feb. 5th, San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom told a group of engineers and architects he's going to introduce legislation in the coming months that would require owners of some 4400 soft story buildings in the city to start retrofit them.  Appearing before the Earthquake Engineering Research Institute the Mayor said it's time to do what is needed to protect the lives of the thousands of people living in these vulnerable San Francisco structures.  According to a city-commissioned report presented last year, it's extimated it would cost $9,000 to $28,000 per residential unit to mandatorily retrofit the 2,800 most susceptible buildings in the city at a total cost of $260 million. But the report added, that up-front cost could avert $1.5 billion in damage should a major earthquake hit San Francisco.

According to a Mayor's spokesperson, Newsom will take his yet to be written legislation first to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors for approval in the coming months.  The spokesperson sayd the Mayor will take a three-pronged approach to mandating and paying for the retrofits. The first two components would require approval by the Board of Supervisors -- one making the safety upgrades mandatory and another creating a special tax district that would allow property owners to use the city's strong bond rating to borrow money for the work at a reduced rate. The cost of that loan would then be paid back to the Special Financing District through their property taxes, amortized over 20-25 years.  If the building is every sold, the new owner would inherit the cost.

The third component would repurpose part of $280 million in untapped bond money designated for retrofitting unreinforced masonry buildings. Transferring that money would require voter approval, and Newsom said he planned to put that on the November ballot as part of a coordinated approach.

"Although there is no such thing as an earthquake-proof building, engineers agree that proper seismic retrofitting can give buildings a fighting chance against a sizeable earthquake," Newsom said in an earlier statement. "Now we must act decisively to protect our homes and workplaces."

According to a draft version of the Community Action Plan for Seismic Safety Report, so-called soft-story, wood-frame buildings, mostly more than 35 years old, have large openings on their ground floor and lack partitioning walls. They typically house shops, restaurants or garages. During a strong quake, the ground floor may not be able to support the stiff, heavier floors above, leading the entire building to shift sideways or collapse.

The report further states that a significant earthquake could destroy more than a quarter of the building stock in San Francisco. This level of damage would injure thousands, cripple the city’s economy, cause a housing crisis, devastate tourism, and irrevocably change the character and affordability of our city.  Some argue that the damage would reach a “tipping point,” causing recovery challenges that would persist for years.

With 8,600 to 100,000 housing units at risk, the report states that seniors, renters and people with disabilities will likely bear the brunt of the housing loss.