The Earthquake Brace + Bolt program is offering grants valued up to $3,000 for homeowners at high risk of damages caused by destructive earthquakes. A total of $6 million in grants are available to prepare California home owners for "the big one", $1 million of which will be allocated to low-income home owners.
For the first time in the program’s history, income eligible homeowners will have the opportunity to qualify for supplemental grants that may cover up to 100 percent of seismic retrofit, which is the modification of existing structures to make them more resistant to seismic activity, ground motion, or soil failure due to earthquake
Over one million homes in California built before 1980 are located in high hazard areas vulnerable to collapsing or sliding off it’s foundation during a strong earthquake. The program covered homes in 397 zip codes statewide in this year alone.
Almost 16,000 EBB retrofits have been completed by trained contractors who aided in the reduction of home damages in the event of destructive earthquakes by bracing existing cripple walls in crawl spaces with plywood and bolting the home to it’s foundation.
The EBB grant program is a part of the California Residential Mitigation Program administered by the California Earthquake authority and the California Governor’s office of Emergency programs.
While Chula Vista is not part of the qualifying zip codes, this program brings awareness to the impacts in Southern California, new zip codes are being added as funding becomes available.
This program is a partnership with the California Governor's Office of Emergency Services.
Registration for 2021 EBB grant program opens Oct. 27 and will continue through Dec.1. More information is offered on their website at EarthquakeBraceBolt.
