Residential Housing Characteristics Study

This California Low-Income Residential Housing Characteristics Study project proposes to address the lack of complete data on housing structures in disadvantaged communities (DAC) and Hard-to-Reach (HTR) single family residential housing. While high level data such as number of homes in DACs and other key demographic and market information (housing age, access to broadband, etc.) can be pulled from census and other research, data on the baseline physical conditions of DAC and HTR homes is lacking (i.e., structural integrity, electrical panel and wire capacity, and code adherence). This data is foundational to being able to both size the total available market for emerging technologies and develop effective, properly budgeted program pathways to serve and transform these communities. The results will help facilitate deployment of emerging technologies including heat pump water heaters, heat pump HVAC, smart plug loads, efficient appliances including induction stove-tops, home networking equipment, and other decarbonization measures. The project will leverage past studies and piggyback on existing IOU programs and contractor networks serving CA IOU DAC and HTR communities to perform targeted incremental housing condition data collection. For example, the San Joaquin Valley Disadvantaged Communities Pilot has provided initial data on home readiness for electrification and identified some initial cost needed to ready homes for electrification. The study will also use contractors to conduct in-home survey assessments and identify home that are ready for electrification and will estimate cost for those homes that require upgrades and or retrofits to allow electrification. We estimate the number of Single Family Homes in California where occupants are low-income to be 3.5 M. (Rayeff, Reem. "Housing Equity & Building Decarbonization in California." National Resource Defense Council, 2020.) We plan to create a survey for in-depth contractor assessments. This information, analyzed in combination with other data, will be used to inform the scope and nature of barriers to serving DAC and HTR communities with Emerging Technologies efforts and to develop programmatic strategies for helping California achieve its decarbonation and equity goals.