The 40 Prado Road Homeless Services Center, a shelter located in San Luis Obispo, serves up to 100 occupants at a time. While it was built in 2018 under the 2013 Energy Code and met energy efficiency standards of the time, it was under the Low‑Income Weatherization Program (LIWP) that the shelter was able to become even more energy efficient, adding a 120‑kilowatt solar system and other energy efficiency measures thanks to California Climate Investments funding. The success at this property—the first homeless shelter to receive funding under LIWP—has paved the way for many similar properties across the state to also receive funding.
Bringing Electrification and Energy Efficiency to Low-income San Francisco Communities
The Tenderloin Neighborhood Development Corporation’s (TNDC) commitment to help San Francisco’s low‑income communities thrive by building affordable housing was energized by an electrification project at its SOMA Studio and Family Apartments (SOMA Apartments) in 2020. The effort is supported by a $633,000 award from California Climate Investments through the Department of Community Services and Development’s Low Income Weatherization Program’s (LIWP) Multi‑Family component. With that money and contributions from other local energy efficiency programs, TNDC kept utility bills low for residents while electrifying major central building systems and reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Built in 2003, the SOMA Apartments include 162 homes with more than 60 percent of its households classified as extremely low‑income (earning less than 30 percent of the area median income).
Training and Partnerships Bring Community Solar to Low-income Households
Thanks to $2 million from California Climate Investments through the Low‑Income Weatherization Program, GRID Alternatives Inland Empire is implementing the Community Solar Pilot project, the first community solar array in California specifically designed to benefit low‑income households. Situated on Santa Rosa Band of Cahuilla Indian tribal lands in Riverside County, the Community Solar Pilot project will not only lower energy costs for tribal members and other low‑income households but also provided an opportunity for tribal members to gain valuable experience as solar installation trainees.