Events for Mandatory Soft Story Retrofit Program

The City of Oakland’s Soft Story Retrofit Program works to save lives by strengthening buildings with large ground-floor openings that are particularly prone to collapse during an earthquake. Effective January 22, 2019, municipal ordinance No. 13516 now requires residential property owners to strengthen these vulnerable buildings with seismic retrofits. This page provides information and resources on the ordinance, the schedule for compliance, and the process for completing the mandatory retrofit.