On the 120th anniversary of the 1906 San Francisco earthquake and fire, this brief revisits SPUR’s 2009 report The Dilemma of Existing Buildings to assess how far San Francisco has come in strengthening its building stock and to identify where risks remain.
San Francisco’s long-term resilience is constrained by the safety of its existing buildings. While the city has made meaningful progress — particularly through a soft-story retrofit ordinance and investments in public infrastructure — thousands of seismically vulnerable buildings remain. Given the cost and complexity of retrofits, the next phase of seismic policy must align earthquake resilience with the city’s broader priorities. San Francisco must turn necessary seismic investments into co-benefit opportunities that help revitalize downtown, meet climate goals, and accelerate recovery after future disasters. Importantly, our brief underscores that San Francisco cannot prepare for or recover from a major earthquake on its own. Coordination across the Bay Area will be essential to ensuring resilience.