San Francisco, CA Earthquake Safety: Soft-Story Retrofit (2026)

San Francisco Ordinance 66-13, signed into law on April 18, 2013 at the annual commemoration of the 1906 Earthquake, established one of the nation's strictest mandatory seismic retrofit programs. The ordinance targets wood-framed buildings that are 3 stories or taller (or 2 stories over a basement/crawl space), with 5 or more dwelling units, built under a permit dated before January 1, 1978, with no prior seismic strengthening. The program identified approximately 4,900 potentially affected buildings. Buildings were classified into four tiers (I through IV) based on occupant risk, with staggered compliance deadlines. As of September 15, 2021, all tier deadlines have passed. Retrofit work typically involves adding steel moment frames, plywood shear walls, or other structural elements to strengthen the ground-floor 'soft story' level, which is vulnerable to collapse due to large openings (garages, storefronts). The program was developed based on lessons from the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, which caused significant soft-story building damage in the Marina District. Building permits for retrofit work are processed through DBI with an expedited review track. Rent increases for seismic retrofit costs may be passed through to tenants under SF Rent Ordinance Section 37.7.