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One of the good things about affordable housing is all of the good stuff involved beyond sheltering people 鈥� good wages for construction workers, policies that foster a diverse workforce and green, efficient structures.

But these tangential social benefits tacked on to affordable housing projects are said to be one reason they make an unappealing development option. They bump up per-unit cost, which owners have to either absorb, or charge more.

Enter architect Jay Raskin, a former mayor of Cannon Beach. He makes the case that seismic resilience is as important as other peripheral goals of affordable housing 鈥� and one the government already supports. Not only that, but Raskin says that as a matter of public policy, affordable units should be built to be habitable after a major earthquake 鈥� beyond what building code requires.

鈥淏ecause we’re using public money, and public leaders are doing other actions to prepare, this should be part of their response,鈥� he said.

鈥楽afe enough to stay’

Raskin has spent the majority of his 25 years as an architect in Cannon Beach, specializing in preparing coastal communities for a big earthquake. He served on the commission that drafted the Oregon Resiliency Plan and currently chairs the Oregon Seismic Safety Policy Advisory Commission.

The seismic sections of current building codes reflect a life-safety approach, meaning buildings are intended to remain standing during an earthquake and not kill their inhabitants. Raskin believes buildings should be built to not only stand through an earthquake, but also remain habitable in the wake of disaster.

Calling his approach 鈥渟afe-enough-to-stay,鈥� Raskin has started a teamwork agreement between his firm and three others to raise awareness and consult on projects. And he thinks a good place to start is affordable housing.

The city of Portland has committed to building thousands more affordable units far beyond the 15,000 it has. The City Council on Wednesday passed an inclusionary zoning law. And Portland voters last month approved a $258 million affordable housing bond.

The repetitive nature of these affordable housing projects 鈥� with lots of sturdy interior walls 鈥� means only minimal upgrades would have a considerable benefit. Plus, Raskin said, the timing is right.

鈥淭his is an important time to do this, before the building boom dies down,鈥� he said. 鈥淲e’re putting a lot of money into this right now, and we want this affordable housing stock to be available after an earthquake.鈥�

Raskin’s new venture 鈥� Salus Resilience 鈥� is an A-Team of seismic-minded professionals from different disciplines. The three joining Raskin 鈥� civil engineer Brian Knight of WRK, geotechnical engineer Allison Pyrch of Hart Crowser and economist Ed MacMullan of ECONorthwest 鈥� all joined him working on the Oregon Resiliency Plan.

But their new venture has run into a bit of pushback, and they haven’t worked on an actual project yet.

鈥淚t’s still the early days of this thinking,鈥� Raskin said, adding that green energy measures (which also go above and beyond code) were first proposed over a decade ago and are now the norm.

The New Yorker article

The state is thick with structures not expected to fare well in a sizable seismic event, including more than 1,500 unreinforced masonry buildings in Portland. The Oregon Department of Transportation expects most of its bridges rated 鈥渃ritical鈥� to collapse in a magnitude 8 quake.

Part of the reason seismic resilience lags here is because, unlike Seattle and San Francisco, Portland hasn’t experienced a serious earthquake in the modern era.

Kathryn Schulz, in her influential article on the subject that appeared last year in The New Yorker, writes how easy it is for humans to overlook long-term risks in favor of the here-and-now. Despite being located in a seismically vulnerable region of the country, Portland has managed to skate by without a major disaster in recent decades. This has left the city with a rich stock of old, seismically-vulnerable buildings.

Raskin thinks a certification system similar to LEED as well as policies could effectively raise awareness of seismic resilience.

Costs of higher standards

Eli Spevak is a rare breed of developer: for-profit, but often with support of community-wide goals via creativity. He hasn’t developed an affordable housing project in more than 10 years.

Spevak said these days there’s lots of pressure on the big developers of affordable housing 鈥� like Central City Concern and Innovative Housing Inc. 鈥� to build more for less money.

鈥淚t’s all good stuff, but if it adds to the cost of providing affordable housing, you get less built,” he said. 鈥淪o, in this case, going beyond code would be another great public benefit added to the cost of affordable housing, and it would lead to fewer people getting housed.鈥�

The Oregon Legislature this past session dedicated $40 million to improve seismic resilience. It’s a sizable amount, but still far less than the $100 million asked for, said Sean Hubert, chief housing and opportunity officer for Central City Concern.

鈥淲e keep hearing it’s too costly,鈥� he said. 鈥淭hey’re actually trying to strip away bells and whistles out of affordable housing, as a way of maximizing production, so I think right now asking to build to a higher standard that would increase cost of construction is going to be challenging when people are trying to push the industry to do more for less.鈥�

Discussing retrofits

It’s a common misconception that following a natural disaster, everybody evacuates, said Carmen Merlo, director of Emergency Services for the city of Portland.

鈥淚f anything, we want to keep people safe where they are,鈥� she said.

When people are displaced from their homes, they are less likely to return. It’s one of the lessons of Hurricane Katrina, Merlo said.

The city might not know exactly which pipes will burst, or which streets will close, but it is focused on identifying the areas that will be the hardest hit, and how to distribute services, Merlo said.

Raskin’s approach is only for new construction. The city’s 20-member Unreinforced Masonry Policy Committee is nearly ready to propose a new seismic retrofitting regime that would require all building owners to upgrade promptly, rather than wait for remodels to trigger the changes.

Upgrading existing affordable housing to a 鈥渟afe-enough-to-stay鈥� level involves relocating tenants. This cost and others make extensive seismic upgrades a good idea to include at the start of a project, Hubert said.

There are lots of angles to the affordable housing conversation, but with the housing crisis, the URM Policy Committee’s focus has been on unit production, members say. Only two committee members represent affordable housing, and the idea of 鈥渟afe-enough-to-stay鈥� wasn’t discussed at any of the committee’s meetings.

Risk, adjusted

In life, we have to assume some risks, says Ethan Seltzer, professor of urban studies at Portland State University.

鈥淪imply by living in the Pacific Northwest we are all assuming some level of risk, whether or not we are living in a LEED-certified, architect-designed house or not,鈥� he said. 鈥淎nd I think it’s kind of self-serving to suggest that unless it’s completely insulated from risk and involves some kind of LEED-certified retrofit that it’s not viable. I just think that’s wrong. It’s not helpful.

鈥淭here’s no such thing as a risk-free world. And if the implication is that until all risks have been eliminated, the public should not invest, I think that’s an unrealizable standard. And not only that, I think it’s also unrealistic.鈥�

Dan Volliare, CEO of REACH Community Development, said the only reason the private model for affordable housing hasn’t worked is because developers have so far been unwilling to accept less than what they optimally could get.

鈥淭hat could work too,鈥� he said.