Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program
The Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP, pronounced "lie" "heap") is a United States federal social services program first established in 1981 and funded annually through Congressional appropriations. The mission of LIHEAP is to assist low income households, particularly those with the lowest incomes that pay a high proportion of household income for home energy, primarily in meeting their immediate home energy needs. The program, part of the United States Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), is funded by grants appropriated from the federal government.
Weatherization funding peaked to over 500 million dollars in 2009 and by 2014 had decreased to about 300. In 2014, it served over 80 thousand households in over 40 states, out of over 5 million in the LIHEAP program.[1] In total since 1976, weatherization assisted over 7 million low-income households, which received free home improvements worth an average of about $5,000. The most common measures were furnace replacement, attic and wall insulation, and infiltration reduction. A random trial in Michigan estimated that the measures reduced energy consumption by 10-20 % on average.[2]
History[edit]
LIHEAP history began in 1980 when congress created the Low Income Energy Assistance Program (LIEAP), as part of the Crude Oil Windfall Profits Tax Act to answer the concerns of the rising energy prices of the 1970s. In 1981, LIEAP was replaced with LIHEAP as part of the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act. In 1984, the Human Services Reauthorization Act added a new goal to provide funds for cooling costs of low-income households. Congress also required the use of more recent population and energy data, which meant the shifting of funds from solely cold-weather states to warm-weather states.
Administration[edit]
LIHEAP is administered by the Department of Health and Human Services. Several federal divisions provide oversight and direction to the program. These include the Administration for Children and Family Services, the Office of Community Services, and the Division of Energy Assistance.
The federal government does not provide LIHEAP assistance to the public. Instead, the federal government provides funds to states, federal or state-recognized Indian tribes, tribal organizations, and insular areas to administer.
Groups who receive funds are considered grantees in the program. LIHEAP grantees have flexibility to design their programs, within very broad federal guidelines, to meet the needs of their citizens. Each state may have varying departments or divisions to disseminate funds. Shown above is the program flow from the federal to local level in the State of Utah.
In Utah, LIHEAP funding is managed through the Home Energy Assistance Target (HEAT) program, which is handled by the state or Association of Governments (AOG). The Mountainland AOG provides direct oversight for assistance to local government agencies in Utah, Wasatch, and Summit Counties. MAG receives nearly $2.5 Million annually.
State of Illinois has announced in 2014 that residents can apply at two area agencies; a single-person household can qualify with a monthly income of up to $1,459; a two-person household up to $1,966; a family of three can earn up to $2,474; and a family of four can earn up to $2,981.[4]
Congress appropriated $3.47 Billion toward the program in 2012. Over the past decade, funding for LIHEAP has trended closely with winter fuel prices, except for the federal fiscal years of 2009–2011, when funding leapt above the winter fuel price index tracked by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP). The President's budget proposal in 2012 significantly reduced allocation amounts to "return LIHEAP funding to historic levels received for 2008 prior to energy price spikes." The two main reasons why the budget has been cut for 2012 is because first, the building codes now require energy efficiency, modern appliances with low energy use standards and second, overall opposition to federal spending. Changes in future funding will need to consider the efficacy of program management, energy costs, the number of recipients, and other potential sources of assistance.
LIHEAP efficacy is monitored on a regular basis through its recipiency targeting index. This index quantifies the extent to which assistance eligible households are receiving LIHEAP assistance. The greatest focus of eligibility is those households with elderly, disabled, or young children. An index score above 100 indicates that LIHEAP is serving a target group of households at a rate higher than the prevalence of LIHEAP income eligible households that are members of that group. The table at right reflects the target scores from Fiscal Years (FY) 2004-2009 for households with an elderly member. The table also shows what the actual national targeting score was for FY 2004–2006.
Each December, state LIHEAP grantees are required to report on the LIHEAP Grantee Survey the following data for the previous federal fiscal year:
The data from the LIHEAP Grantee Survey are included in the LIHEAP Report to Congress. The most recent available data are for FY 2003 LIHEAP and related data are obtained from LIHEAP grantee reports and surveys, national household surveys, and other federal agencies. Much of the data are published in the department's LIHEAP Home Energy Notebook and the LIHEAP Report to Congress.
While the program administrators use the above measures and reports to understand how the program is working, there is greater concern that not enough funding is being brought into the program to stave off increases in fuel prices. The 2008 spike in funding was needed to address the sharp increase in home heating oil. The recent decrease in allocations prior to 2008 levels may not be enough to handle the continued climbing of heating costs and its effect on many households with low incomes.
Not only are fuel prices continuing to increase, program recipients are on the rise. This may be illustrated in the following chart showing the increase in households served by the program in relation to the amount of LIHEAP funds allocated to the State of Utah. Some statistics of note for the State of Utah include:
Coordination with Outside Programs
In addition to providing matching funds through the Leveraging Incentive Program, LIHEAP strives to coordinate efforts with private utility companies and non-profits where federal funding is not available.