Hayward Soft-Story Ordinance

On July 2nd, 2019 the City of Hayward adopted a soft story retrofit ordinance requiring a mandatory screening of potential “Soft Story Buildings”. This ordinance was passed as part of an initiative to provide a safe and resilient housing inventory for the residents of Hayward. Only a screening form is due at this time but retrofitting construction is highly encouraged since it will eventually be mandated.

A Hayward Soft Story Buildingis typically a wood framed multi-story building, constructed or permitted for construction before January 1, 1979 or designed based on an adopted version of the 1976 or earlier edition of the Uniform Building Code. These structures have a weak/open lower level with little or no solid walls. Multi-family dwellings such as apartment buildings with tuck under parking stalls on the ground floor will usually fall into this category. Due to the proximity to the Hayward fault and geological studies suggesting the potential for a major seismic event within the next 20 years, Hayward feels it’s imperative that action be taken sooner than later. The retrofit guidelines and minimum requirements can be found on their website under the soft story retrofit category.

Formal notices were mailed to the owners of potential Soft Story buildings by or before October 30, 2019. Buildings were selected using census tract data from the Alameda County Assessor’s Office.