Park Royale Trailer Park in Van Nuys on June 11, 2026. Van Nuys, which is in the San Fernando Valley, has cool winter nights and hot summer days.
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One Los Angeles contractor found a planet-friendly solution to a problem many California mobile home park residents face: dangerous heat and unaffordable cooling.
No cost equipment: Ben Shamoon's home upgrading business, Bryge, uses state and federal money to help deploy appliances like heat pumps and HVAC systems that cut pollution. He could install the units at no cost to the customer and the roughly $8,885 incentive per job would be enough to pay for the equipment, labor, permits and profit. Residents paid nothing. Low-income customers receive the highest incentive.
Benefits beyond cooling: What Shamoon is doing, swapping gas-powered heating and cooling for electric versions of appliances, lowers carbon pollution by pulling from the state’s mostly green grid. But it also could improve indoor air quality. Residents often reduced monthly utility bills when old, inefficient equipment were replaced.
Maria Franco has lived in the Park Royale Mobile Home Community for 25 years, in the Van Nuys neighborhood in north Los Angeles. The community has just under 150 rectangular homes, lined up neatly on a large field of mostly asphalt, with fruit trees popping up here and there.
Two years ago, Franco faced a string of bad luck. The 65-year-old lost her long-time job packing orders at a distribution company when it abruptly moved to another county, a commute too far for her to make.
Then her hot water heater clonked out, so she hauled warm water from her stovetop to her bathroom, scooping it over her head for a shower.
“I was depressed,” Franco said in Spanish. “I was in shock.”
The Southern California summer bore down harshly where she lived in the San Fernando Valley, its temperatures regularly 10 to 15 degrees higher than those on the coast.
To cool off, Franco relied on a fan and a partially functional window air conditioning unit. When her adult kids and grandchildren came by, they found the heat inside oppressive.
A knock on her door changed all that. A young contractor named Ben Shamoon stood on her step, wanting to know if he could install a new water heater, and an HVAC system that both cooled and heated her home. The cost to Franco? Absolutely nothing.
Heat pump customer, Maria Franco, outside her home in Van Nuys on June 11, 2026.
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“It was an inexplicable experience, a blessing from heaven,” Franco said.
Shamoon won over customers by canvassing trailer parks. By working with families who lived in close proximity, he could buy in bulk and work more efficiently to complete projects faster. The approach maximized incentives from a state program — aimed at supercharging heat pump adoption — to improve homes at no cost to owners.
He found a climate solution with a lot of wins — for customers, tradespeople and the planet. The approach cracked the nut of one way to bring heat pumps, which run on electricity rather than gas, to low-income Californians.
Best of all, Shamoon brought safety and comfort to families.
Cold calls to San Diego
In July of 2024, Shamoon was working to get his home upgrading business Bryge, then called LivSmart Home Services, off the ground. Tons of state and federal money was flowing to homeowners and contractors at the time through an initiative called TECH Clean California, to help deploy appliances like heat pumps that cut pollution. Low-income customers received the highest incentive.
Shamoon is based in Los Angeles, but the government incentives in the current funding cycle were exhausted in most parts of the state. He saw that there was some money left — about a million dollars to install heat pump water heaters for low-income customers in San Diego.
Shamoon often passed by a mobile home community at the end of his street. One day, an idea came: why not pitch mobile homeowners on the upgrades?
He could install the units at no cost to the customer and the roughly $8,885 incentive per job would be enough to pay for the equipment, labor, permits and profit.
Shamoon and a colleague found a list of San Diego mobile home parks and started cold-calling managers’ offices. Most said no, he could not go door to door, hoping to keep predatory schemes away from residents. Shamoon’s offer of free upgrades was hard to believe.
But a few said yes.
Door-knocking his way through each community, Shamoon picked up clients.
He found that — along with a higher concentration of potential customers — the mobile home parks were home to many families who made under 80% of the median income in the area, which meant they qualified for state assistance, and higher incentives.
“We started to see a trend,” Shamoon said. Not only did most customers qualify for incentives, but like Franco, they needed the help.
He met senior citizens who’d been living without working hot water heaters for months. And people with no air conditioning on days when outside temperatures exceeded 100 degrees.
“It was just one door after the next, after the next,” Shamoon said. He started to see his work as not just about comfort, but about dignity.
As installations began, Shamoon stumbled on wins. Sending contractors to one community cut down on commute times and meant he could get three to four jobs done in a day, as opposed to just one or two. He could bulk order supplies and get lower prices.
After he and his colleagues first canvassed mobile home parks, word traveled fast through the tightknit communities.
People who had initially turned his company away visited their neighbors’ homes and were assured that they had indeed paid nothing for their fancy new appliances. They called Shamoon back and wanted in.
For most customers who had older, inefficient air conditioners and live in hot, dry areas, their monthly bills went down noticeably.
While walking through a neighborhood in Van Nuys, Ben Shamoon (right), founder of Bryge and LivSmart Home Services, showed Evan Kamei, a director at Energy Solutions, one of the ways he creates social media and word of mouth awareness for Bryge.
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The process was not without challenges: electrical panels in some homes did not have capacity to power the upgrades. Different mobile home parks had restrictive rules about where appliances could be placed on the outside of homes.
But Shamoon was not deterred. He repeated the process, adding installations of heat pumps to warm and cool homes.
In the beginning, he worked with homeowners of all income levels, as there were incentives for people with high incomes too, but he eventually zeroed in on low-income homeowners.
Wealthier clients proved high-maintenance, despite getting free appliances, he said. Low-income families were incredibly grateful, and experienced a dramatic improvement in their quality of life.
Hundreds of miles north in Oakland
Consultant Evan Kamei started to take notice.
He had never met Shamoon, nor heard of his company before he started seeing its name pop up on spreadsheets. Kamei works in Oakland for Energy Solutions, an environmental consulting company that implements the state’s incentive program.
He keeps track of where heat pumps are being installed and how that impacts customer bills.
Kamei realized more and more mobile homeowners were participating in the program thanks to Shamoon.
His company has installed the majority of the roughly 1,500 TECH-funded heat pump HVAC and water heaters in mobile homes statewide. California’s incentive program has funded about 80,000 heat pump installations on all types of homes.
In Franco’s mobile home park, Shamoon has completed 38 projects.
“That’s the beauty of having a market-based solution of enabling contractors to figure out something that could work,” Kamei said, reflecting on contractor creativity, “It’s not something you typically see with an incentive program like this.”
A lot of wins, and some limits
What Shamoon is doing, swapping gas-powered heating and cooling for electric versions of appliances, lowers carbon pollution by pulling from the state’s mostly green grid. But it also could improve indoor air quality.
Esperanza Sanchez is breathing easier after she upgraded her HVAC system to a heat pump with Shamoon’s help. Sanchez lives in the Blue Star Mobile Home Park in the San Fernando Valley’s Sylmar neighborhood.
Sanchez had previously avoided using her gas heater because it triggered her asthma. “It stung my nose and I couldn’t stand it,” Sanchez said in Spanish. After making the switch, she said her respiratory issues were gone.
Maria Franco’s heat pump takes just 15 minutes to cool down her two-bedroom home on a scorching day.
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“It’s a public health thing. It’s an equity thing,” said Ethan Elkind, a UC Berkeley lawyer and policy researcher who’s studied how low-income Californians can adopt more planet-friendly appliances.
“It’s almost a human rights thing in these really hot climate zones — giving people access to reliable air conditioning,” Elkind said. “It checks a lot of boxes for what we need to do.”
But there are limits to this solution. There’s no way for the state to provide incentives for every low-income Californian to make the switch. California has doled out more than $219 million so far, but bringing electric appliances to all low-income residents would cost in the hundreds of billions of dollars, Elkind said, money the state does not have.
A settlement from a 2016 gas leak in the San Fernando Valley will funnel roughly $30 million in incentives to nearby residents through TECH starting late this summer. It’s unclear when these funds will again be available for Californians who live outside that region, and are not eligible for the settlement money.
One way to stretch the state’s limited funds is to use public dollars to attract private investors, Elkind said. Under this model, the state pays the interest upfront — giving low-income homeowners access to no-interest loans — and covers the loss if a borrower defaults. This safety net eliminates risk for private lenders, allowing them to finance the initial equipment upgrades. Homeowners would then pay back the loan principal over time, using the savings many see from now lower utility bills.
But that could only go so far. National policies incentivizing heat pump adoption like those in the Biden Administration’s Inflation Reduction Act, done away with under the Trump Administration’s tax bill, would need to be reinstated to achieve large-scale adoption.
Reaching renters is another story. Gas appliances are cheaper upfront. So landlords have little financial incentive to make the switch — while there are bill savings, those go to renters.
Elkind said achieving this shift would take policies like those slated to roll out in the Bay Area in 2027, requiring all new water heater installations be electric.
The most glaring limit is California’s high cost of electricity. For many, monthly bills for a gas appliance are lower than electric alternatives. But for Californians like Franco, who replaced old, inefficient window air conditioners, their bills often go down. That’s because new technologies use less energy to do the same – and often a better – job.
Cool air, hot showers
Three months after that knock on her door, Franco watched two men install her new water heater. It had been half a year since she had the ability to step into her shower, turn a knob and have hot water come out.
“That first time using the shower was beautiful,” Franco said.
A month later, she welcomed a new mini-split heating and cooling unit, blowing crisp air in her living room.
The single unit is powerful enough to transform her two-bedroom home from oppressive to refreshing in just 15 minutes.
Before the changes, her gas bill, which covered her furnace, water heater and stove, was $40 to $50 per month. It is now just $10. Her electricity bill went from $150 to around $80. The savings are meaningful given her monthly social security benefits of $1000.
Without Shamoon and his coworkers, Franco would have never learned about the state incentives, and never made the change.
“When I needed help the most, it came,” Franco said. “If it weren’t for them, we’d be suffering from the heat.”
Makenna Cramer
covers the daily drumbeat of Southern California. She has a special place in her heart for creatures that make this such a fascinating place to live.
Published July 14, 2026 1:34 PM
Nearly three dozen lobsters were seized from alleged poachers on the Santa Monica Pier.
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California Department of Fish and Wildlife
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Nearly three dozen lobsters were seized and six people were arrested for poaching at the Santa Monica Pier, state wildlife officials announced Tuesday.
The details: The poached crustaceans were hidden in duffel bags, backpacks, vehicles and a baby stroller, according to the California Department of Fish and Wildlife. The 34 lobsters were returned to the ocean alive, including several females, which can have 50,000 to 800,000 eggs each year.
“Lobster poaching is high priority for CDFW and Wildlife Officers are diligently working to apprehend those who violate our resource laws,” the department said in a statement to LAist, adding that there were others illegally taking lobsters who officers weren’t able to catch.
Why now: The alleged poachers were arrested last Wednesday, about four months after the recreational spiny lobster season closed. They’re accused of taking lobster out of season, taking undersized lobstersand possessing more than triple the daily bag limits, among others. Each violation can bring up to one year in jail or a $1,000 fine.
How you can help: If you see someone poaching or have information about a wildlife crime, you can make an anonymous tip to department officials by calling (888) 334-2258 at any time. You can also submit it through the “tip411” app from the Apple or Google Play stores. If you don’t want to download, you can submit the anonymous tip by texting 847411.
If the information you provide leads to an arrest, you could be eligible for a cash reward. Previous rewards have reached up to $3,500, according to the department. You can find more information here.
Governor Gavin Newsom signed a new housing affordability law on Monday, aiming to cut red tape and spur housing construction.
Reduced construction costs: The reforms signed into law are expected to reduce the per-unit cost of affordable housing by $60,000 to $70,000, the governor said. One primary change is slashing impact fees, which local governments add onto new housing developments to generate tax revenue. The one-time fees levied on developers are used to support municipal services — including schools, public parks and sewage — for residents in the new affordable housing units.
Read on... for more about the new law.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a new housing affordability law on Monday, aiming to cut red tape and spur housing construction.
At a press conference in Oakland’s Chinatown, the governor didn’t mince words when it came to confronting the state’s cost-of-living crisis, which is top of mind for residents.
“It’s Econ 101,” Newsom said. “We need to build more damn housing, and we need to lower the cost of construction.”
The reforms signed into law are expected to reduce the per-unit cost of affordable housing by $60,000 to $70,000, the governor said. One primary change is slashing impact fees, which local governments add onto new housing developments to generate tax revenue.
The one-time fees levied on developers are used to support municipal services — including schools, public parks and sewage — for residents in the new affordable housing units.
A report by the Terner Center for Housing Innovation, a UC Berkeley think tank focused on housing challenges, recently found that across the state, affordable developments paid an average of roughly $300 million in impact fees annually. In his announcement on Monday, the governor called the fees “comical.”
“They’re outrageous. It makes it quite literally impossible to build an affordable unit,” Newsom said.
State Sen. Jesse Arreguín, D-Berkeley, and other officials at the conference credited the state’s investments in housing with alleviating some of the heavy burden of the housing crisis on residents and municipalities — and resulting in a 9% drop in unsheltered homelessness statewide over the past year, Arreguín said.
This announcement was also an opportunity for Newsom to trade barbs with President Donald Trump after he refused to sign a major housing bill from Congress, which became law over the weekend.
“The President may not be familiar because he did not take the time to sign a bill,” Newsom said when asked about the federal legislation, but “it looks a lot like what we’ve been doing here in the state of California.”
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We're at the final stretch of the World Cup. The semi-finals are Tuesday when France and Spain face off and Wednesday where England goes up against Argentina. By Wednesday night, we'll know who's heading to the final, which is this Sunday at 3 pm EST in New Jersey. Here's what to know about the teams going into the last four games.
France vs Spain: Reaching the final will be a chance at rewriting history for France. The team made it to the last match in 2022 but lost to Argentina. Spain last won the World Cup trophy in 2010. One of the tournament's highlights has been watching Spain's 19-year-old star Lamine Yamal take on titan after titan. Now, his team is facing its biggest contender yet.
England vs Argentina: A trip to the final would perhaps be sweetest for England. The team hasn't won a World Cup in 60 years — despite reaching the quarter or semi-finals multiple times since then. All eyes are on Argentina to see if the team can be the first to win the World Cup back-to-back in decades.
The following was originally published in the Up First newsletter as part of the NPR Network's coverage of the World Cup, Soccer Edition. For more updates from Juliana throughout the games, subscribe to Up First, or check out the new World Cup tab in the NPR app.
We're at the final stretch of the World Cup. It feels like just yesterday, international fans were arriving in the U.S. and marveling at Buc-ee's and unlimited free soda.
The semi-finals are:
Tuesday: France vs. Spain @ 3 p.m. EST in Dallas
Wednesday: England vs. Argentina @ 3 p.m. EST in Atlanta
By Wednesday night, we'll know who's heading to the final, which is this Sunday at 3 p.m. EST in New Jersey.
Here's what to know about the teams going into the last four games:
🇫🇷 France
Kylian Mbappe #10 of France celebrates the team's 1-0 victory in the FIFA World Cup 2026 Round of 16 match between Paraguay and France at Philadelphia Stadium on July 04, 2026 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
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Last World Cup trophy: 2018
Reaching the final will be a chance at rewriting history for France. The team made it to the last match in 2022 but lost to Argentina.
This time, France has returned with a vengeance — particularly thanks to Kylian Mbappé, who's responsible for eight goals.
🇪🇸 Spain
Lamine Yamal #19 of Spain looks on during the FIFA World Cup 2026 Quarter Final match between Spain and Belgium at Los Angeles Stadium on July 10, 2026 in Inglewood, California.
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Carl Recine
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Last World Cup trophy: 2010
One of the tournament's highlights has been watching Spain's 19-year-old star Lamine Yamal take on titan after titan. Now, his team is facing its biggest contender yet.
While this will be the first time Yamal and Mbappé are battling at the World Cup, the two have played against each other before. Most recently, in 2024, when Yamal helped his team come out on top.
🏴 England
England's midfielder #10 Jude Bellingham celebrates after scoring the equalising goal during the 2026 World Cup football tournament quarter-final match between Norway and England at Miami Stadium in Miami Gardens on July 11, 2026.
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PATRICIA DE MELO MOREIRA
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Last World Cup trophy: 1966
A trip to the final would perhaps be sweetest for England. The team hasn't won a World Cup in 60 years — despite reaching the quarter or semi-finals multiple times since then.
Nearly all of England's goals were made to Jude Bellingham and Harry Kane. My eyes will be on the duo and my ears on the fans in case they sing "Hey Jude" like they did at the last game.
🇦🇷 Argentina
Lionel Messi #10 of Argentina during the FIFA World Cup 2026 Quarter Final match between Argentina and Switzerland at Kansas City Stadium on July 11, 2026 in Kansas City, Missouri.
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Carl Recine
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Last World Cup trophy: 2022
All eyes are on Argentina to see if the team can be the first to win the World Cup back-to-back in decades. To do so, the defending champion will face England. The two haven't competed on the global stage in 24 years. "It'll be a special match because I've never played against England," Lionel Messi told FIFA.
What we know for sure: Justin Bieber, Madonna, Shakira and BTS will be there, performing at the World Cup's first-ever final half-time show.
What else to watch this week:
🎉 The global sleepover at our house is wrapping up. So many international visitors from across the globe visiting cities coast to coast, has left many feeling like this summer has been one big party at our place. For immigrant communities in New York, it's been a welcome respite.
💻 The World Cup has been the perfect distraction for so many it has actually cut into the productivity of the global economy. While some are watching to see if it bounces back, we're curious what will bring us together and captivate our collective attention next?
A woman shields herself from the sunlight with a copy of the Los Angeles Wave newspaper, July 15, 2023, in Leimert Park.
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Damian Dovarganes
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As we all prep for this heat wave, here are some things you can do to prepare ahead of time.
Why now:The National Weather Service issued an extreme heat warning effective from 10 a.m. Tuesday to 8 p.m. Thursday.
Why it matters: Temperatures are expected to reach 110 degrees across much of inland L.A. County through Thursday, with the hottest conditions forecast Wednesday, according to the weather service.
Temperatures are expected to reach 110 degrees across much of inland L.A. County through Thursday, with the hottest conditions forecast Wednesday, according to the weather service.
Here are some things you can do to prepare ahead of time:
Start hydrating now and throughout the day — experts recommend drinking two to four glasses of water per hour during extreme heat to stay hydrated.
The UV rays are the strongest between 10 a.m. and 3 p.m., so plan to be indoors unless you absolutely have to be outdoors.
Algin Sutton Recreation Center: 8800 S. Hoover St.
South Los Angeles Senior Activity Center: 7020 S. Figueroa St.
Jim Gilliam Recreation Center: 4000 S. La Brea Ave.
Angeles Mesa Branch Library: 2700 W. 52nd St.
Dr. Mary McLeod Bethune Regional Branch Library: 3900 S. Western Ave.
Hyde Park Miriam Matthews Branch Library: 2205 W. Florence Ave.
John Muir Branch Library: 1005 W. 64th St.
Mark Twain Branch Library: 9621 S. Figueroa St.
Note: Most of these locations welcome pets, but it is always best to call ahead if you are bringing an animal.
Sign up for power outage alerts
Visit your power company’s website or contact them by phone to determine if you are scheduled for a rolling power outage.
For example, Southern California Edison may turn off power in high fire risk areas to reduce the threat of wildfires, what’s known as public safety power shutoff (PSPS). Sign up or update your contact information on the SCE website to receive emails, texts or phone calls about public safety power shut off events and other outages in your area.
If you do not have an SCE account, you can sign up for ZIP Code Alert, these alerts are helpful when you want to stay informed about a location where you are not a customer.
Here’s how to sign up for ZIP code alerts:
Text alerts: To sign up zip code text alerts, text “ENROLL” 28954.
Voice alerts: To sign up for ZIP code voice alerts, call 1-855-549-3800.
Email alerts: To sign up for ZIP code email alerts, click here.
SCE also offers its Medical Baseline Program for those whose households require the regular use of electrically powered medical equipment.
The program provides an additional 16.5 kilowatt-hours (kWh) of electricity per day and helps offset the cost of operating the medical equipment. Those interested can dial 2-1-1 to learn more.
