Blanca E. de la Cruz joined the California Housing Partnership in 2014. As Managing Director of Sustainability, she oversees program design and implementation for statewide and regional clean energy programs contributing to the long-term sustainability and preservation of housing affordable to low-income people. Blanca leads the Sustainability Team’s education and activities to improve our partners’ access to incentive programs for energy efficiency, solar energy, electrification technologies, decarbonization design, and free technical assistance. These include California’s Low-Income Weatherization Program (LIWP) Multifamily, the Solar on Multifamily Affordable Housing (SOMAH), the Building Initiative for Low-Emissions Development (BUILD), and the Comprehensive Affordable Multifamily Retrofit (CAMR) program by the country’s largest utility provider, the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP). In addition, Blanca supports statewide and Los Angeles region advocacy work for the equitable decarbonization of affordable housing.
Before joining the Partnership, Blanca worked at the Los Angeles County Development Authority (LACDA) for five years, managing the Notice of Funding Availability (NOFA) for Affordable Multifamily Rental Housing. She also coordinated LACDA’s sustainable development initiatives. Before joining LACDA, Blanca was a Project Manager at East LA Community Corporation. Blanca has more than 18 years of experience in affordable housing. Blanca received an M.A. in Urban Planning from UC Los Angeles and a B.A. in International Development Studies and Latin American Literature from UC Berkeley.