Boulder expands wildfire-rebate program, rebrands HOA track to serve multi-unit housing

City staff on April 8 gave the Environmental Advisory Board a data-backed update on the Wildfire Resilience Assistance Program (RAP), which provides rebates and multi-unit grants to help Boulder properties harden against wildfire.

"We have a budget of $450,000 for the year," said Olivia, who manages the RAP in the Finance Department. The individual rebate remains $2,000 for 2026 and requires applicants to obtain a free detailed home assessment from the Boulder Fire Department as a prerequisite.

Staff reported combined 2024'025 figures: 262 applications received, 206 awards made and roughly $330,000 distributed through the individual-rebate arm (average award about $1,800). Applicants reported roughly $714,000 in additional private spending on top of city rebates, staff said. An HOA pilot awarded nearly $84,000 to nine organizations (average award approximately $9,323), and vegetation work was the most common funded activity.

Olivia said key program lessons included that $10,000 awards for HOAs often covered vegetation only and many applicants needed help scoping projects. To address that, Boulder will rebrand the HOA pilot as a Multi-Unit Dwelling program in 2026 and move from a first-come-first-served model to a short RFA-style process. Staff said applications will be due in mid-May (staff tentatively cited May 17) and that awards will range from a minimum of $15,000 to a maximum of $50,000 to better support larger, community-scale mitigation projects.

Survey results cited by staff showed the program reached some homeowners who would not otherwise have done mitigation: 50% of survey respondents said they were not planning mitigation without the rebate, 65% said the rebate was "very" or "extremely" important to their decision to act, 92% said they would participate again, and 97% reported satisfaction with the program.

Board members pressed staff on operational barriers: contractors are hard to find, the city cannot give liability-backed contractor recommendations, and some applicants are concerned about insurance implications. Olivia said a city team is actively exploring links between mitigation and insurance incentives and that the fire department is engaging with insurers on the issue. Staff also said most program-funded items do not trigger major building-code permits and that many permits are over-the-counter, though they offered to follow up with a permit crosswalk.

To improve equity, the multi-unit application will incorporate the city's equity index map in scoring and ask applicants to indicate renter-occupied units so projects that benefit renters receive priority. Staff noted Council will review broader grid and wildfire-resilience priorities in July and may seek additional policy tools to scale hardening efforts.

Olivia said the RAP team will continue to collect data and refine program rules as it scales and to provide more guidance for applicants on scoping projects, contractor options and permit expectations.