BUILD Technical Assistance

Applicants that are developing new low-income housing developments and identified as one of the following may be eligible for BUILD technical assistance.

• Private owner or developer
• Public owner or developer
• Nonprofit organization
• Tribal Communities

The technical assistance provider is not responsible for the performance of an applicants’ design decisions or any other consequence of an applicants’ project designs. The use of technical assistance does not guarantee an applicant will receive BUILD funds.

Projects that meet one of the following categories may be eligible.

• Residential new construction
• Residential alteration where more than 50% of exterior walls are altered
• Repurposed commercial building for residential housing

Projects must be in one of the four IOU gas service territories.

• Southern California Gas Company
• Pacific Gas & Electric Company
• San Diego Gas & Electric Company
• Southwest Gas Corporation

Projects must meet Low-Income Residential Housing Income Limit Requirements.

• Multifamily: A building of at least two rental housing units that is operated to provide deed-restricted low-income residential housing and meets one or more of the following conditions.
  • The property is in a disadvantaged community and is consistent with the income requirements of the affordable multifamily financing source.
  • The property is in a low-income community in which at least 50 percent of households have an income less than 60 percent of the area median gross income and is consistent with the income requirements of the affordable multifamily financing source.
  • At least 80 percent of the households living in the building have incomes at or below 60 percent of the area median income.
• Single-family: a low-income residence, described as a residence sold at an affordable housing cost to a lower-income household that is subject to a resale restriction or equity-sharing agreement for which the homeowner does not receive a greater share of equity.

See BUILD Program Guidelines,  Chapter 2: Eligibility, for detailed information.

Technical assistance is available for potential eligible applicants throughout all phases of building design and construction, and throughout all steps of the incentive application process.

Requests for technical assistance are screened for eligibility by the technical assistance provider in consultation with CEC staff.

• Technical assistance is approved or denied on a first-come, first-served basis, according to the date and time of the electronic submission of a complete technical assistance application.
• Technical assistance for specific projects is dependent on the amount of program funds available based on the gas corporation’s contribution percentage to the program.
• Up to 300 hours of BUILD technical assistance can be approved for an eligible applicant. The CEC has limited resources to provide technical assistance and retains full control over when and how it is applied.

See BUILD Program Guidelines,  Chapter 3: Technical Assistance and New Adopter Design Award, for more information.

Apply for technical assistance through the Technical Assistance Application form.

• Technical Assistance Application

BUILD technical assistance is provided by a team of clean building and low-income residential housing experts led by the Association for Energy Affordability (AEA) and its nine subcontractors. The AEA-led team was selected from an open, competitive Request for Proposals (RFP-20-502) issued in May, 2021.

Technical Assistance Provider Team

• Prime Contractor:
  • Association for Energy Affordability, Inc. 
• Subcontractors
  • TRC Engineers, Inc.
  • California Housing Partnership Corporation
  • Highlands Diversified Inc.
  • Celery Design Collaborative LLC
  • David Baker Architects
  • Mithun, Inc. 
  • SmithGroup Architects and Engineers
  • Integral Group, Inc.
  • The Ortiz Group, LLC