SPUR supports the mandatory soft-story retrofit ordinance for multifamily buildings in Oakland introduced by Councilmember Kalb and Mayor Schaaf. The Bay Area is seismically vulnerable, with a 72 percent likelihood of a major earthquake impacting the region. Within the region, the Hayward fault is the most likely to experience a major earthquake, with a 33 percent likelihood of a major event in the next 30 years. As the legislation notes, soft-story residential buildings in Oakland represent 11 percent of Oakland’s housing units, but two-thirds of the expected housing losses in a future earthquake. It is important that policy makers take steps now to make sure that our buildings and lifelines are strengthened to reduce that risk.
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