Registration for the Earthquake Multi-Unit Retrofit (EMR) program opened Wednesday, August 19, 2026, and closes September 30, 2026, according to an announcement from the California Residential Mitigation Program (CRMP), which administers the grants. Pasadena is one of 14 California cities where the program is available as of August 19, 2026.
The grants are aimed at soft-story buildings — wood-frame structures with a weak or open ground floor, often created by tuck-under parking. Those buildings performed poorly in the 1994 Northridge earthquake and are the target of mandatory retrofit ordinances in cities across the state.
To qualify, a building must be wood-frame, contain five to ten units, and have been built before January 1, 1991, CRMP said in the announcement. The owner must also have received a notice and order to retrofit from the city.
That last requirement is what ties eligibility to Pasadena’s own rules. The City Council adopted Ordinance No. 7345 in May 2019, and it applies to wood-frame buildings for which a construction permit was sought on or before November 12, 1976. Buildings put up after that date are not covered by the city’s order, and so cannot draw on the state grant. Pasadena has identified roughly 493 wood soft-story buildings requiring evaluation or retrofit, and the city has said notices and orders went to owners in its first three priority groups as of August 2021.
The money is paid as an incentive covering 70% of costs, with two caps. One is $7,000 for engineering and permit fees. The other is $4,260 per unit for construction. A qualifying 10-unit building can therefore draw the full $49,600. A five-unit building tops out at $28,300.
“Buildings that qualify for this grant are already required by law to retrofit under their city’s ordinance,” Janiele Maffei, chief mitigation officer at the California Earthquake Authority, said in the announcement. “We are proud to be able to offer these funds to make those retrofits more affordable.”
CRMP said it funded 6,811 retrofits statewide in 2025 across its grant programs, which also include Earthquake Brace + Bolt (EBB) and Earthquake Soft-Story (ESS). The agency is a joint powers authority of the California Earthquake Authority and the California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services.
Registration and program rules are at https://www.crmp.org/our-
Pasadena owners unsure whether their building carries a notice and order can reach the city’s Planning and Community Development Department at softstoryretrofit@
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