A new grant program will offer funding to California building owners of multi-family apartments to retrofit buildings and benefit disadvantaged residents.
California Earthquake Authority: $20.2 Million
This is a Justice40 project.
History
FEMA's National Risk Index indicates that Los Angeles County has the highest level of social vulnerability to the adverse impacts of natural hazards as compared to the rest of the nation. While Alameda and Contra Costa counties score relatively low to moderate on the index, there are low-income/disadvantaged areas and residents within these counties. In Los Angeles, Contra Costa and Alameda counties, seismic activity acts as a threat multiplier in these disadvantaged communities.
Project Description
The program will offer seismic retrofit grants to building owners of multi-family (5 to 10 units), soft-story apartment and condominium buildings that have not been previously retrofitted. “Soft-story” buildings, built before current building codes, have ground stories that tend to collapse when shaken hard enough. Limiting catastrophic housing damage to this fragile housing stock allows residents to remain in their homes and helps individuals that may lack the resources to recover quickly. It also helps keep the community intact by allowing residents who stay in their homes to participate in the rebuilding of their neighborhoods and cities, continue to work and support their local businesses, and send their children to their local schools.
The California Earthquake Authority (CEA) will continue to partner with local jurisdictions and cities, including the counties of Los Angeles, Contra Costa and Alameda. Furthermore, the cities of El Cerrito and Albany are also partners that are involved with a seismic retrofit ordinance for multi-family buildings. This new ordinance focuses on census tracts with a moderate to high Centers for Disease Control Social Vulnerability Index (SoVI) score that meets the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development low-income threshold.