Stronger Housing, Safer Communities: Strategies for Seismic & Flood Risks

An apartment building in San Francisco that was damaged in the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake.

In the Bay Area, retaining housing is crucial to expediting and ensuring an effective disaster recovery. Limiting catastrophic housing damage and keeping residents in their homes not only helps people who may lack the resources to effectively recover from a disaster, but keeps communities intact. 

This manual focuses on earthquake and flood to better characterize both the structural and community components of vulnerability, as well as to develop strategies to address these specific vulnerabilities. This resource guide helps users:

  • Understand the characteristics of San Francisco Bay Area housing and communities that increase vulnerability to earthquakes and sea level rise related flooding;
  • Identify and assess housing and community vulnerability at regional and community scales and;
  • Develop strategies that reduce housing and community vulnerability to help the region meet its resilience, sustainability, prosperity, and equity goals.

This manual was created by the Association of Bay Area Governments and Bay Conservation and Development Commission (BCDC). It was last updated in 2015 and is useful for developing local hazard mitigation plans (LHMP), Safety Elements or other resilience strategies and plans.

Download the Stronger Housing, Safer Communities manual (PDF).

Regional Housing Technical Assistance

Assistance for local jurisdictions in adopting and implementing compliant Housing Elements.