Yes, it does. Long Beach Utilities runs a program called Lawn-to-Garden that pays homeowners to replace thirsty lawn with a garden that suits this climate. It is one of the more generous programs in Southern California, and most of the people we meet either have not heard of it or assume it has ended.
These are the terms as Long Beach Utilities publishes them, checked on October 1, 2026. Programs like this change, so read the utility's own page before you plan around a number. It is linked at the bottom.
What it pays
$3.00 for every square foot of lawn you remove, on up to 5,000 square feet. The smallest project it will fund is 250 square feet. Front yards, back yards and parkways can all be part of one application.
One point to confirm with the utility: its terms give a single $3.00 rate, while its own question-and-answer page lists $2.00 for back yards. Ask which applies before you budget a back yard.
$100 for each tree you plant inside the project area, for up to five trees.
Up to $1,500 toward the cost of a professional landscape design. This part has a condition that matters: the design has to come from a landscape professional on the utility's verified list. Ask any designer, us included, whether they are on that list before you count on this part of the money.
The utility calls this a taxable incentive rather than a rebate. You fill in a tax form before payment and receive a 1099 at the end of the year, so allow for that.
The order matters more than anything else
You apply online and wait for initial approval. You submit a landscape plan and wait for the utility to approve the drawing. Only then do you kill and remove the lawn.
People lose the incentive by starting early. A lawn that is already dead or dying, bare dirt, and projects that are already built do not qualify. The area you reserve also cannot be increased afterward, so measure carefully the first time.
After approval the work goes in: the irrigation is upgraded or capped, then the approved paving, the plants and the mulch. You tell the utility the project is finished, an inspector visits, and payment typically follows within about 60 days.
What the new garden has to include
Plants have to cover at least 65 percent of the converted area once they are mature, and at least 10 percent of them have to be California natives. The rest can be other low-water plants suited to our climate. The plan has to name every plant and group them by how much water they need.
No lawn of any kind, and that includes artificial turf. Synthetic grass is not an approved replacement.
At least three inches of mulch wherever there are no plants or permeable paving.
Something that keeps rain on the property: a rain garden or swale, a dry river bed, a berm, a downspout redirected into the garden, or compost worked into the soil. Rain barrels alone do not count.
Any new paving has to let water through, such as pavers or brick set on sand without mortar.
The old sprinklers have to go. Drip, bubblers, microsprays and high-efficiency heads are accepted, or the system can be capped for hand watering.
One plant is banned by name: Mexican feather grass, along with any other invasive species.
The commitment afterward
The garden has to stay a garden. If it is not maintained, or lawn comes back, within five years, the utility can ask for some of the money back, starting at all of it in the first year and stepping down each year after.
This is the part we would underline. The incentive pays for the garden to be planted. It does not pay for anyone to learn how to look after it, and a native garden maintained like a lawn does not last five years. Plan the care at the same time as the planting.
If you are not a Long Beach Utilities customer
The program is for properties whose water comes from Long Beach Utilities. Elsewhere in Southern California, the regional SoCal Water$mart turf replacement program starts at $2.00 per square foot on up to 5,000 square feet, and some local water agencies add to it. The same rule applies there: reserve the funds before you start.
In a homeowners association, a common area has to be applied for by the association itself.
Where to apply and who to ask
Long Beach Utilities Lawn-to-Garden: liveh2olb.com, under Save Water, then Residents, then Lawn-to-Garden. Phone (562) 570-2300. Email lawntogarden@lbwater.org. Applications are taken first come, first served.
Where we come in: a Lawn-to-Garden project is a design problem with rules attached. Plant coverage, native percentage, water zones, a place for the rain to go and paving that drains are all things we design for anyway. If you want a second opinion on a plan before you submit it, that is what a two-hour consultation is for.
Do not touch the lawn until the design is approved. It is the one mistake that cannot be undone.