California

California faces significant natural hazard risks, including wildfires, earthquakes, and floods, which threaten communities and infrastructure. The state implements robust mitigation efforts, such as home hardening programs and grants, to reduce risks and enhance resilience.

Grant Programs

Mitigation grant programs provide homeowners with funds to enhance their homes' resilience against storms and other natural hazards, such as wildfires and floods.

• CAL FIRE Wildfire Prevention Grants Program: Funds projects for hazardous fuels reduction, wildfire prevention planning, and community education to mitigate fire risks in vulnerable areas. Learn More. 
• California Wildfire Mitigation Program (CWMP): Provides financial assistance to low- and moderate-income homeowners for home hardening and creating defensible spaces to enhance wildfire resilience. Learn More.
• Earthquake Brace + Bolt (EBB) Program: Administered by the California Residential Mitigation Program (CRMP), this initiative offers up to $3,000 in grants to eligible homeowners in over 1,100 ZIP codes for bolting and bracing wood-framed homes built before 1980 with raised foundations to enhance earthquake resistance. Learn More
• Earthquake Soft-Story (ESS) Retrofit Grant Program: Managed by CRMP with funding from FEMA and Cal OES, this program provides up to $13,000 in reimbursement grants to qualified homeowners in high-risk areas like Los Angeles and San Francisco to retrofit soft-story structures, such as homes with living space above garages, against seismic damage. Learn More

Mitigation Insurance and Tax Incentives

Property owners, residents, and businesses can receive insurance discounts and tax breaks to build stronger to better withstand damage from natural hazards.

The IBHS Wildfire Prepared Home program certifies homes that meet wildfire mitigation standards, qualifying California homeowners for insurance discounts. Key incentives include but are not limited to:

• Mercury Insurance: Offers a discount on the Catastrophe Fire portion of premiums for designated homes.
• AAA (CSAA Insurance): Offers discounts on premiums for IBHS-certified homes, verified by an inspector.
• Allstate: Gives premium credits for certified homes in wildfire-prone areas.
• State Farm: Offers discounts for IBHS-aligned wildfire hardening features.
• USAA: Offers discounts on premiums for certified homes with verified mitigation measures.

Discounts vary by insurer and location; check with your provider and visit IBHS Incentives for more details.

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Funding to Help Rebuild or Re-Roof

These federal and mortgage-backed programs may provide financing for disaster recovery, home repairs, energy upgrades, and rehabilitation, supporting homeowners, renters, and small businesses, particularly for those with low incomes or who are affected by disasters.

Small Business Administration Loans - Those affected by a disaster can rebuild stronger by increasing their SBA disaster assistance loan up to 20% of the verified physical damage to make mitigation improvements. There is no cost to apply, and you are under no obligation to accept a loan if approved.

• Generally, borrowers have two years after loan approval to request an increase for higher rebuilding costs, code-required upgrades, or mitigation.
  
• Call (800) 659-2955 and ask about increasing your loan for mitigation purposes, or visit sba.gov/disaster for more information.

Fannie Mae HomeStyle Renovation Loans - A mortgage that provides a simple and flexible way for borrowers to renovate or make home repairs with a conventional first mortgage, rather than a second mortgage, home equity line of credit, or other more costly methods of financing.​

Fannie Mae HomeStyle Energy Loans - A mortgage that helps lenders offer financing for homeowners to increase home energy efficiency and reduce utility costs.

• Both HomeStyle Renovation and HomeStyle Energy mortgages may be combined with a HomeReady® mortgage so that low-income borrowers can take advantage of flexible features and additional savings.

USDA- Single Family Housing Repair Loans & Grants - A loan program providing loans to very-low-income homeowners to repair, improve, or modernize their homes. Grants are also available for very-low-income elderly homeowners to remove health and safety hazards.

HUD 203(k) Loans - A loan program for rehabilitating and repairing single-family properties, allowing homebuyers and homeowners to finance both the purchase or refinancing of a house and the cost of its rehabilitation through a single mortgage, or to finance the rehabilitation of their existing home.

• The 203(k) program permits homebuyers and homeowners to finance up to $35,000 into their mortgage to repair, improve, or upgrade their homes.

HUD Mortgage Insurance for Disaster Victims - 203 (h) - Loan program for renters or homeowners if their homes are located in an area designated by the President as a disaster area and were destroyed or damaged to such an extent that reconstruction or replacement is necessary. These loans may be used to finance the purchase or reconstruction of a one-family home that will be the homeowner's principal residence.

• The borrower must submit their application to an FHA-approved lending institution within one year of the President's disaster declaration.

Resilience Policy and Legislation

Legislation and regulation are tools used to encourage and incentivize building to higher standards, thereby reducing losses and costs for property owners and residents.

• CA 2025 AB 1 (Insurance and Wildfire Safety Act): Requires periodic reviews of Safer from Wildfires regulations to update insurance discounts for property-level and community wildfire mitigation measures, ensuring ongoing alignment with advancing fire science. More Details
• CA 2025 SB 616 (Community Hardening Commission): Establishes the California Community Fire Hardening Commission to develop standards for scaling home and community hardening, including inspection systems for insurance discounts. More Details
• CA 2025 SB 495 (Eliminate “The List” Act): Streamlines insurance claims for wildfire survivors by providing automatic personal property coverage up to 60% of policy limits (max $350,000) without itemized inventories after a total loss. More Details
• CA 2025 SB 429 (Wildfire Safety and Risk Mitigation Program): Authorizes grants to universities for developing a public wildfire catastrophe model to enhance risk assessment, education, and alignment of mitigation efforts. More Details
• CA 2025 AB 888 (California Safe Homes Act): Creates a grant program for low-income homeowners to fund fire-safe roofs and Zone 0 mitigation within 5 feet of structures, integrated into communitywide safety programs. More Details
• CA 2025 AB 100: Allocates over $170 million in funding for forest and vegetation management projects through conservancies to accelerate wildfire prevention and community protection. More Details
• CA 2025 CAL FIRE Wildfire Prevention Grants Program (FY 2025-26): Funds hazardous fuels reduction, planning, and education projects in fire-threatened areas, supported by Proposition 4 and Cap-and-Trade (up to $135 million available). More Details
• CA 2023-2025 Wildfire Mitigation Plan Guidelines: Mandates electrical corporations to submit and implement risk-reduction plans focusing on infrastructure hardening and utility-caused fire prevention, as per SB 901 and AB 1054 amendments. More Details
• CA 2019 AB 38 (California Wildfire Mitigation Program): Provides grants for home hardening, defensible space, and vegetation management in high-risk, socially vulnerable communities. More Details
• CA 2019 SB 190: Requires development of best practices for defensible space and home hardening standards to enhance community resilience against wildfires. More Details