Resources
History of the Mandatory Soft Story Program
The Mandatory Soft Story Retrofit Program (MSSRP) was created in 2013 by Mayor Ed Lee and the City’s Earthquake Safety Implementation Program (ESIP). ESIP is a thirty-year, fifty-task plan to both reduce impacts to the City from earthquakes and increase the City’s overall resilience. This program is run through the San Francisco Department of Building Inspection and requires the retrofit of San Francisco’s older, wood-framed, multi-family, soft story buildings.
The background research and analysis for this program was conducted as part of a 10-year community process called the Community Action Plan for Seismic Safety (CAPSS), whom determined that these soft story buildings were our City’s greatest risk, and, through a community-led process, determined that they should be retrofitted. These buildings are all wood frame buildings containing five or more dwelling units, two or more stories, and permitted for construction prior to January 1978. As part of this program, all potentially affected property owners were noticed beginning in September 2013 and were required to have submitted their screening forms to the Department of Building Inspection by September 15, 2014. Buildings that have not complied with this requirement, and any future requirements, will be placarded and issued Notices of Violation.
This new ordinance was adopted to guide property owners on seismic strengthening in order to better protect highly vulnerable buildings from collapse during the next major earthquake. Extensive research has found that buildings in the ‘soft-story’ category are highly susceptible to major structural damage – making the seismic strengthening of such buildings a civic priority to protect those living or doing business in such buildings.
The Association of Bay Area Governments estimates that soft-story residential buildings will be responsible for 66 percent of the uninhabitable housing following a seismic event on the Hayward fault.
For additional information, see below or visit the Earthquake Safety Implementation Program’s (ESIP) Soft Story website.
Ordinance Information
- The Mandatory Soft Story Program Ordinance
- Informational Flyer (Chinese) (Spanish)
- Informational Brochure (Chinese) (Spanish)
- Earthquake Safety Implementation Program Soft Story
- Earthquake Safety Implementation Program Financing
- Earthquake Safety Implementation Program 30 Year Work Plan
- Infographic
Forms
Documents
- AB-094 SF Voluntary Retrofit Program
- AB-098 Post-Earthquake Repair and Retrofit Requirements for Wood-Frame Residential Buildings with Three or More Dwelling Units (ESIP Task A.4.c)
- AB-099 Post-Earthquake Repair and Retrofit Requirements for Concrete Buildings (ESIP Task A.4.c)
- AB-100 Post-Earthquake Repair and Retrofit Requirements for One- and Two-Family Dwellings (ESIP Task A.4.c)
- AB-106: Procedures for Implementation of SFBC Chapter 34B
- AB-107: Application of Engineering Criteria in SFBC Chapter 34B
Building and Property Resources
- San Francisco Assessor Recorder's Seismic Exclusion Form
- San Francisco Planning Department
- San Francisco Rent Board
- SF Property Information Map
- San Francisco Department of Building Inspection Permit Records Search
- San Francisco Rent Board Passthrough, Tenant Hardship Application
- San Francisco Rent Board Passthrough Application
- AB-094 SF Voluntary Retrofit Program
- FEMA P-807
- California Department of Consumer Affairs, Structural Engineer License Search
- California Department of Consumer Affairs, Contractor License Search
- SEAONC: Why I Need an Engineer
- SEAONC: How to Select an Engineer
- California Department of Consumer Affairs: How to Hire a Contractor
- FEMA Building Codes Toolkit
- The American Institute of Architects, San Francisco (AIA) maintains a directory of firms available to public. Please click this link to access.
- Engineers, Architects, Contractors who have provided their contact information at our October 28 workshop.
- Engineers, Architects, Contractors who have provided their contact information at our November 21 workshop.