Affordable Housing Stock and Earthquake Risk

A new earthquake system went into effect in the Pacific Northwest in April 2017, but the threat of a massively destructive earthquake still hangs over the Pacific Northwest.

In this context, the city of Seattle is faced with a difficult choice in its ongoing efforts to add affordable housing supply to keep up with rising demand in the growing city.

An article by David Kroman poses the question: "Should scarce dollars go towards making the existing housing safer at the potential expense of building new housing?" 

The question has been raised in light of a recent analysis by the city's Department of Construction an Inspections, which cross-referenced the city’s list of unreinforced masonry buildings with its portfolio of affordable housing, finding "as many as 39 buildings containing 1,873 affordable apartments that could be unsafe in an earthquake."

"Estimating a retrofitting cost of $45 per square foot to bring them up to safety standards, the Office of Housing warned then Mayor-elect Jenny Durkan during her transition that the city could need as much as $79 million to upgrade the buildings," adds Kroman.

According to Kroman, Seattle and Washington lag behind California and Oregon in retrofitting buildings for earthquake safety. Other reports have identified thousands of unreinforced masonry structures in the hip Seattle neighborhood of Capitol Hill. Portland has been working recently to identify additional vulnerabilities. Los Angeles mandated another round of earthquake safety retrofits in October 2015.