Report to Mayor and City Council
Tuesday, March 21, 2023
Consent
SUBJECT:
Title
CONSIDER TAKING A POSITION OF SUPPORT AND SENDING A CORRESPONDING LETTER REGARDING ASSEMBLY BILL 1505 TO APPROPRIATE $250M FROM THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA GENERAL FUND TO IMPLEMENT THE SEISMIC RETROFITTING PROGRAM FOR SOFT STORY MULTIFAMILY HOUSING (CITY COUNCIL)
Body
I. SUMMARY
This item transmits a request for City Council to consider taking a position of support and sending a corresponding letter regarding Assembly Bill 1505 to appropriate $250 million from the state of California general fund to implement the seismic retrofitting program for soft story multifamily housing.
Authored by Assemblymember Freddie Rodriguez, a bi-partisan vote by the Legislature placed this program in the FY 2022-23 budget via SB 189 with $250 million in funding approved for FY 2023-24. The budget was signed by Governor Newsom on June 20, 2022. More recently, however, the proposed budget for FY 2023-24 omitted this funding.
This program is intended to provide matching grant funding to assist owners of apartment buildings with 2 to 20 units to do seismic retrofits to protect California’s supply of Affordable Multifamily Housing from earthquakes. After a challenging time of collecting rents during the Covid-19 pandemic, many of these owners across the state say they simply do not have sufficient funds available to do these retrofits.
II. RECOMMENDATION
Recommendation
TAKE a position of SUPPORT for Assembly Bill 1505 and DIRECT staff to transmit a corresponding letter.
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III. ALTERNATIVES
TAKE another action the City Council deems appropriate and that is consistent with applicable laws.
IV. BACKGROUND
California’s exposure to annual loss from earthquakes ranks among the highest in the nation and the estimated 100,000 soft-story apartment buildings built prior to 1978 are among the most likely to collapse in earthquakes. Although no one knows exactly when or where earthquakes will strike, virtually all areas of California face serious risks of earthquake related deaths, injuries and property damage. These older, affordable buildings provide critical housing for as many as 2.5 million Californians, many of whom are elderly, working families, disadvantaged populations, and students. In addition to making people living in apartments safer from earthquakes, this program will preserve existing housing supply and can help create new construction jobs.
V. FISCAL IMPACT
There will be no fiscal impact.
VI. EXHIBITS
1. Proposed Letter of Support for Assembly Bill 1505 (pgs. 3 - 4)
2. Bill Text (pgs. 5 - 7)
Prepared by: Michael George, Assistant to the City Manager