Earthquake grant helps make older homes safer: Apply now

By Seung Lee

Owners of older, wood-framed homes in Berkeley can apply now for grants to help strengthen their property's resilience to major earthquakes.

Owners of these homes — wood-framed, pre-1980 homes with a raised foundation or crawl space underneath — can receive up to $3,000 for this work. Households making less than $89,040 per year can receive $7,000 more.

Owners of rental properties with four or fewer residential units can apply to retrofit up to five properties. They do not need to live on-site to qualify.

Apply by Oct. 1 to enter the lottery. If you are not immediately accepted into the program, you will be placed on a waitlist. Many Berkeleyans have received grants after starting on the lottery.

Rebate program popular in Berkeley

The grant funds two kinds of retrofit work:

• "Bracing" your home’s "cripple walls" – a short wall between the foundation and first-floor joists – to prevent the house from collapsing
• "Bolting" your home to its foundations to prevent the house from sliding

Bracing and bolting make a big impact in older cities like Berkeley, where many homes may not have the same seismic safeguards as newer buildings.

Since 2016, more than 600 Berkeley property owners have received Earthquake Brace + Bolt grants to retrofit their homes. Protecting your home means protecting your community as we prepare for the next big earthquake.

These grants would be used to "bolt" the foundation to the frame of house and brace walls in the crawl space under the house, called "cripple walls," with plywood.

More resources for seismic upgrades

After applying for the Earthquake Brace + Bolt grant, Berkeley homeowners can take advantage of more resources to seismically improve their homes: 

• Retrofit grants: Eligible owners of multi-family homes, non-residential buildings, mixed-use buildings and hotels/motels can apply for reimbursement grants from the city of Berkeley for their retrofit work.
• Transfer tax reductions: New Berkeley property owners can file for a partial refund on their real estate transfer tax after completing seismic upgrades on their own.
• Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) financing loans: Eligible property owners can receive long-term, fixed-cost financing for seismic upgrades through one of several PACE providers.

If you own an unreinforced masonry or soft, weak or open-front building with five or more units, you are required to retrofit your building.

Learn more about Berkeley's seismic safety requirements and resources.

A retrofitted home can protect not only your family but also your neighbors. Apply by Oct. 1 for the Earthquake Brace + Bolt grant.

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Ways to prepare for Berkeley earthquakes

The city of Berkeley has a number of tips and resources to help get ready for natural disasters such as earthquakes. Take this opportunity to brush up.

Creating a Disaster Plan

Make an emergency plan with your household, neighbors, family, and friends. A little foresight can go a long way—make a plan now, so you know how to find and get in touch with your people when something happens. The same connections that are important in your everyday life—with your family, roommate…

City of Berkeley

Sign up for AC Alert for official emergency information

Sign up for text, email, and phone alerts that guide you to protective actions related to locations you care about, like your home, work, or kids’ schools. Sign up for AC Alert—Berkeley’s main emergency alerting system—to quickly know what protective actions you, your family, or your co-workers shou…

City of Berkeley

The UC Berkeley Seismology Lab is a also great resource for local earthquake information.

At TBS, we have you covered on disaster preparedness: Don't forget to check The Scanner first when there are earthquakes, power outages, weather warnings and more.