California’s New $500M Equitable

Building Decarbonization Program

The California Housing Partnership's Sustainability Team is excited to announce that the California Energy Commission selected us to serve on the Northern and Southern California teams that will implement the new Equitable Building Decarbonization (EBD) program. With a budget of almost $500 million, the EBD program is set to launch in mid-2025. Please see below for more details.  

The launch of the EBD is a significant initiative for the Sustainability Team, as we hope to surpass the number of properties—over 21,000 households—that we assisted in enrolling in our existing decarbonization programs by nonprofit organizations and housing authorities in 2024. We also hope to surpass the 18 training sessions we did with partners across California in 2024 and build on our annual Affordable Housing Electrification Training Series to showcase more of our partners’ best electrification practices

LOOKING AHEAD IN 2025

The recent destruction caused by wildfires in greater Los Angeles was experienced firsthand by Partnership staff and the Sustainability Team hopes to share even more resources and strategies to support resilient new construction and enhance the resilience of existing buildings during 2025.

Looking ahead to the rest of 2025, we plan to take part in a range of advocacy initiatives aimed at safeguarding and advancing the development of sustainable, affordable housing, including: 

• Protecting SOMAH’s budget 
• Advocating for renewed LIWP budget 
• Advocating for AHSC for the reauthorization of cap and trade
• Ensuring affordable housing participation in solar, storage, and virtual power plant opportunities
• Continued advocacy in easily incorporating decarbonization funding in affordable housing

New Equitable Building Decarbonization (EBD) Program 

EBD will deliver no-cost decarbonization retrofits to low-income properties across the state benefitting both residents and affordable housing owners and operators through a direct install approach. This statewide program will be administered in three separate regions, with a focus on properties located in disadvantaged communities.



It will seek to electrify key end uses through upgrades like the installation of electric heat pumps. Eligible measures may also include building envelope improvements, electrical infrastructure upgrades, and remediation and safety enhancements.

If you have a property that would be a good fit for EBD, please contact Rachael Diaz (rdiaz@chpc.net) for more information.

Solar on Multifamily Affordable Housing (SOMAH)

To date, nearly 50,000 households are benefiting from solar energy through SOMAH, saving an average of $30 to $50 monthly on electricity bills. The Partnership is hopeful that the November 2024 changes announced by the CPUC and advocated for by us and other partners will increase the usefulness of the program by:

• Expanding incentives to cover battery storage (eligible properties and details for battery storage are yet to be defined)
• Allowing building structural repairs, such as roof replacements, as eligible project costs
• Making the progress payment pathway the default option for all applications  

To gather input on the updated program design, the SOMAH team will hold a public workshop for interested parties on February 11, 2025 from 1-3pm PST. Register to attend SOMAH’s Decision Workshop. 

Building Initiative for Low-emissions Design (BUILD)

BUILD will continue to support the transition to all-electric new construction by offering up to 300 hours of robust, no-cost technical assistance. Last year, we partnered with SCANPH and AEA to help housing providers understand how to maximize the benefits of the design review process for their new construction properties. The PG&E and SDG&E regions are nearly fully subscribed; however, technical assistance remains available to properties in these territories. Going into 2025, SoCalGas has approximately $13.4 million remaining, while Southwest Gas has $900,000 for housing providers. 

Don't miss this opportunity to take advantage of these funds! For more information, please contact Ian Sharples (isharples@chpc.net).

Comprehensive Affordable Multifamily Retrofit (CAMR)

The CAMR program, launched in 2023, is available for multifamily properties within the LADWP service territory. It offers no-cost technical assistance to participating housing providers. The program highly incentivizes energy efficiency and electrification measures while offering a flexible and customizable scope approach that accommodates various levels of building rehabilitation. In early 2025, CAMR will host a webinar that will dive deep into the program’s procedures, including technical assistance, benchmarking, sample scopes, and co-leveraging opportunities. With projects nearing completion, we will share case studies highlighting building performances, GHG reductions, and energy bill savings. Stay tuned for exciting updates! 

For more information, please contact Angel Rodriguez (arodriguez@chpc.net).

SUSTAINABLE HOUSING

RESOURCES

Webinar Recordings

• Affordable Housing Electrification Training Series
• Inflation Reduction Act Series
• Maximizing Efficiency and Minimizing Costs: How to Integrate All-Electric Design Review into Affordable Housing Developments (SCANPH)

Publications

• Affordable Housing Funds in the Inflation Reduction Act

The California Housing Partnership creates and preserves affordable and sustainable homes for Californians with low incomes by providing expert financial and policy solutions to nonprofit and public partners. Since 1988, the Partnership's on-the-ground technical assistance, applied research, and legislative leadership has leveraged $35 billion in private and public financing to preserve and create more than 93,000 affordable homes. 

Visit us at www.chpc.net.

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