The city of San Francisco has kept a secret list of buildings that are potentially unsafe, but haven't actually been classified that way and, in many cases, haven't been inspected. They say they keep it secret because they don't want to unnecessarily frighten people or unfairly point a finger at property owners.

Wanna see the list?

Then click on over to the San Francisco Public Press and take a gander at 2,929 addresses of buildings housing an estimated 58,000 people. The Department of Building Inspection would prefer you did not.

The list was compiled beginning in early 2007 when a nonprofit organization of engineers was commissioned to walk the city and gather information on every structure built before 1973 that was wood-framed, more than three stories and contained more than five units. The buildings typically have large windows or openings on the ground floor, contributing to their potential instability. 

A team of graduate students, architects and engineers inventoried 4,573 buildings from the outside and found 64% of them wanting. But the reviews were not formal inspections and could easily have missed interior structural design.

An estimated one in 14 San Francisco residents lives in these so-called soft-story buildings that are considered to be at risk of collapse in a major earthquake. Row after row of Victorian buildings, built in the early 20^th century, often sport big bay windows and garage doors taking up space where a load-bearing wall might otherwise be.

They are considered easier and cheaper to retrofit in general than a lot of other structural types, but there has been no concerted effort at directly addressing the problem. Nearby Berkeley passed an ordinance in 2005 that authorized sending shaming notices to owners and occupants of soft-story structures that their buildings could be a bit dodgy, and Alameda did some online shaming in 2009. 

A draft ordinance in San Francisco was said to be circulating.

–Ken Broder

To Learn More:

Potentially Earthquake-Unsafe Residential Buildings — a (Very Rough) List (by Noah Arroyo, San Francisco Public Press)

Earthquake Retrofit Delays Leave Thousands at Risk (by Noah Arroyo and Barbara Grady, San Francisco Public Press)