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 with either have not heard of it or assume it has ended.
These are the terms as Long Beach Utilities publishes them, checked on October 3, 2026. Programs like this change, so read the utility's own page before you plan around a number. It is linked at the bottom.
The numbers
$3.00 for every square foot of front lawn you remove, and $2.00 for side and back yards, 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 eligible for the rebate. A front yard has to be visible from the street; anything behind the front wall of the house is paid at the back-yard rate.
$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: 50 cents a square foot on projects over 1,000 square feet, and a flat $500 on smaller ones. The design must come from a landscape designer on the utility's published list. Ask any designer, us included, whether they are on that list before you choose who to work with.
The utility calls this a taxable incentive rather than a rebate. You will receive a 1099 at the end of the year, so allow for that.
The order matters
First, you apply online and wait for initial approval. Then you submit a landscape plan and wait for the utility to approve the drawing. Only then can you kill and remove the lawn. The city will not pay if it is dead when they inspect the property. The square footage cannot be increased after the application is submitted, so plan and measure carefully the first time.
After approval the work may begin. The irrigation is upgraded or capped, any hardscape installed, then the plants and the mulch. When it’s done, you tell the utility the project is finished, an inspector visits, and payment typically follows within about 60 days.
What the new garden must include
Plants must 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 must show the name of every plant and group them by how much water they need.
No lawn of any kind is allowed, and that includes artificial turf. Synthetic grass is not an approved replacement.
At least three inches of mulch should cover any areas that have no plants or hardscape.
Plans must include a water retention feature that keeps rain on the property: a rain garden or berm, a dry riverbed, and a downspout redirected into the garden are options. Rain barrels alone will not count.
Any new paving must let water through, such as pavers or brick set on sand without mortar.
Old sprinkler heads must be replaced with appropriate equipment. Drip tubing, bubblers, micro tubing with emitters 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 known to the state of California.
The commitment
The garden must stay a garden. If it is not maintained, or lawn comes back, within five years, the utility may ask for some or all of the money back.
This next part cannot be emphasized enough. 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 for the care of the garden when it is being designed.
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 homeowner’s 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, we offer a two-hour consultation, in-person or online.
Do not touch the lawn until the design is approved. This is the most common reason homeowners get denied.