The Wildfire Resilience Loan Program.
Hardening a home costs about $15,000, which many families cannot pay up front. SB 894 created this program to spread that cost into monthly payments with no lien on the home. Once the Legislature appropriates money for it, the program will be administered by CAEATFA, the state agency that already runs GoGreen loans.
This is not a state website and does not take loan applications.
Source: CAEATFA GoGreen Financing, 2026. Cover: illustration.
California already runs this kind of financing.
For a decade, the state’s GoGreen program has financed home upgrades through local credit unions, reaching credit scores down to 580 at rates homeowners could not get alone. The state does not make the loans. It sets aside a small reserve that absorbs losses, and private lenders have made 16,415 loans so far, in counties covering 99% of Californians.
On loans of 5 years or less, GoGreen borrowers paid 4.6% on average, against 9.9% for the same lenders’ unsecured loans.
CAEATFA GoGreen Financing, 2026.
Grant money is spent once. In GoGreen, each dollar in the loan-loss reserve has backed about $12 of private lending, and it is reused as borrowers repay. A reserve can reach far more homes than a grant of the same size.
GoGreen can already finance some hardening today, but only alongside a qualifying roof or window replacement. This program would finance hardening as a standalone project.
CAEATFA GoGreen Financing, 2026; CAEATFA program terms.
Four layers. One clear job each.
GoGreen already separates the program a homeowner sees from the financing behind it, and this structure does the same. SB 894 places the program at CAEATFA, in the Treasurer’s office.
The State Fire Marshal would own the standard and be the public face of the program
That covers certification, the definition of qualifying work, and the name a homeowner sees on the loan. Homeowners are more likely to trust a program the fire service stands behind.
The Treasurer’s office would run the loss reserve
It would use the systems that already run GoGreen and would not lend itself.
Credit unions would make the loans
With the reserve covering most of any default, lenders could approve more homeowners at a below-market fixed rate.
The reserve would be funded from several sources outside the General Fund
SB 894 bars the ratepayer money behind most of GoGreen’s reserve, so the new reserve needs other sources: state climate funds, federal or private grants, or insurance-fee revenue like that behind Alabama’s and Louisiana’s grant programs.
SB 894 was signed on September 29, 2026 and takes effect January 1, 2027; the program opens once the Legislature appropriates money for it. The statute bars a lien on the home and any limit by hazard zone, and it allows a loan-loss reserve without requiring one. It sets no rate or term. The rate, term and payment figures on this page are the initiative’s illustration, and the fire marshal’s role is its proposal.
The homeowner’s insurance discount helps pay the loan back.
California now requires insurers that price wildfire risk to give discounts for mitigation. A hardened home earns a discount, and the homeowner can put it toward the loan payment.
- 01
A fire-safety standard defines the qualifying work.
- 02
A no-lien, below-market loan funds it up front.
- 03
The home is hardened and certified.
- 04
The insurer applies its mitigation discount.
- 05
That discount helps pay the loan.
- 06
Insurers could pay into the reserve that backs the next loan.
Sources: CA Department of Insurance, Safer from Wildfires; Strengthen Alabama Homes and Louisiana Fortify Homes grant programs.
What it looks like at the kitchen table.
Adjust the project cost and the insurance savings to see the monthly payment. Payments use standard amortization at the initiative’s proposed terms.
The same project on other terms · Proposed loan 3% APR · 5 years: $270/mo · Private market 9% APR · 5 years: $311/mo
Nothing here is an offer of credit or a rate quote. The statute sets no rate or term; the figures here are the initiative’s illustration, and insurance savings vary by carrier and home.
Where the program stands.
SB 894 takes effect January 1, 2027. Nothing has been appropriated for the program yet.