How much worse would a major earthquake make California’s already serious housing crisis?
It could destroy much of the existing affordable housing in Los Angeles County — older apartment buildings, many of which are at risk of severe damage in a major earthquake.
In 2016, voters in the city overwhelmingly approved Proposition HHH, authorizing up to $1.2 billion in bonds to help develop up to 10,000 affordable housing units for people without a roof over their head. Achieving this dream has been elusive.
Since then, homelessness in the region has risen dramatically. The latest count showed 66,436 people in the Los Angeles County experiencing homelessness in 2020. That’s a 12.7% rise from 2019. Officials say new people are becoming homeless faster than they can be housed.
An L.A. Times editorial recently lamented the failure to get new units developed and the high cost of building them. Clearly, we need to look at protecting the affordable housing we already have as well as producing new housing.
When it comes to earthquakes, older structures make up most of the city’s dangerous apartment buildings. These structures, because of their age, are more affordable to rent. But many structures built in the mid-1970s or earlier – such as soft-story apartments built over open parking areas – can have structural deficiencies that put tenants at risk in a major earthquake.
That puts lower-income residents at a greater risk of injury in a quake – and increases the risk of these vulnerable populations being displaced by a disaster.
AAGLA President Dan Yukelson has proposed using Measure HHH funds to improve these older apartment buildings with earthquake retrofits so they remain standing after The Big One strikes.
It’s a great idea. Allocating some of these funds for protecting vulnerable, older apartment units will preserve this important housing resource and make our community more resilient.
Earthquake evacuees
Arizona in 2018 conducted a full-scale earthquake drill planning for the scenario that 400,000 Southern California evacuees go there to seek shelter there following the devastation of a massive earthquake.
The reason for this anticipated wave of nearly a half million refugees is simple: Most structures identified as at risk of failure in an earthquake represent older, more affordable housing stock or commercial buildings that provide much-needed manufacturing, logistics, and service-related jobs in the communities they serve.
The loss of these buildings would bring economic devastation, with thousands of people left without a roof over their heads or a job to provide for their families.
Building safety is essential to a functioning society – ensuring economic stability and the protection of affordable housing stock to help keep our communities strong. That’s good for everyone.
Learn more about the impacts of earthquakes on community resilience by watching “The Resilience Advantage” – an ongoing webinar series featuring experts addressing risks, building safety, social concerns, and business and economic impacts associated with seismic resilience of buildings. There is no cost to attend.
Optimum Seismic has teamed up with a coalition of leading business organizations and government officials to present information valuable to making informed decisions. We hope you can join us.
The next webinar entitled “Sustainability & Resilience – A Natural Connection” is from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Wednesday, April 21. For more information, visit optimumseismic.com/the-resilience-advantage. Past webinars are also posted there for those who missed any of the series.
Visit optimumseismic.com for more information, or call us at 323-978-7664.
