Berkeley's Seismic Retrofit Incentive Program

1995 POPULATION: 105,855
1995 HOUSING UNITS: 45,912
Single Family Units: 19,420 (42.3%)
Multi-Family Units: 26,492 (57.7%)
KEY CONTACT: Arrieta Chakos
City Manager’s Office
Phone (510) 644-6580

Although emergency response is critical in assisting people, mitigation of structural problems with homes can prevent the need for emergency response. This mitigation is the goal of Berkeley’s Seismic Retrofitting Incentive Program.

This incentive program is a joint effort under the departments of Planning, Housing, and Finance. It provides two economic incentives to homeowners. First, a local ordinance waves permit fees paid to the city for seismic retrofits on non-strengthened residences and unreinforced masonry structures. Since 1992, over 2,000 projects representing $229,000 in permit fees have been approved without fee payment. This incentive has helped low-income homeowners, and may have increased the degree to which middle- and upper-income homeowners have retrofitted.

Second, the city has a 1.5% tax levied on property transfer transactions; up to one-third of this amount can be applied for seismic upgrades during the sale of property. Qualifying upgrades include foundation repair or replacement, mudsill repair or replacement, wall bracing in basements, foundation-to-mudsill bolting, shear wall installation, water heater anchoring, and securing of chimneys. In two fiscal years, this program has resulted in the completion of 1,300 retrofit projects totaling $900,000. (This amount also represents lost revenue for the city.)

This page was last updated 8/20/03 by jbp.