Skip ACF banner and navigation
Department of Health and Human Services logo
Questions?  
Privacy  
Site Index  
Contact Us  
   Home   |   Services   |   Working with ACF   |   Policy/Planning   |   About ACF   |   ACF News Search  
Administration for Children and Families US Department of Health and Human Services

Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program
Division of Energy Assistance/OCS/ACF

LIHEAP Household Report for Federal Fiscal Year (FFY) 2004


To LIHEAP Home Page | To LIHEAP Memoranda/Transmittals Page


THIS CONTAINS INFORMATION ISSUED BY THE U.S. ADMINISTRATION FOR CHILDREN AND FAMILIES IN LIHEAP ACTION TRANSMITTAL NO. LIHEAP-AT-2004-5, DATED 6/30/04

 

TO:                             LOW INCOME HOME ENERGY ASSISTANCE PROGRAM (LIHEAP) GRANTEES

 

SUBJECT:                 LIHEAP Household Report for Federal Fiscal Year (FFY) 2004

 

RELATED                 Sections 2605(c)(1)(G) and 2610(b) of the Low Income Home Energy

REFERENCES:         Assistance Act of 1981 (title XXVI of Public Law 97-35, the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1981, as amended); 45 Code of Federal Regulations, Part 96; House Report 103-483 and Senate Report 103-251; OMB Control No. 0970-0060 (Expiration Date--October 31, 2006)

 

PURPOSE:                 To remind LIHEAP grantees to include the LIHEAP Household Report for FFY 2004 as part of their LIHEAP grant application for FFY 2005.

 

BACKGROUND:      Under the Amendments to the LIHEAP statute enacted in 1994 (Public Law 103-252), LIHEAP grant applications must include a report for the previous Federal Fiscal Year on households applying for and assisted by LIHEAP.

 

CONTENT:                The following reporting requirements pertain to the LIHEAP Household Report:

 

                                    The 50 States, the District of Columbia, and insular areas that receive regular LIHEAP block grant allocations of $200,000 or more (e.g., the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico) must submit the required data elements contained in (1) the Recommended Long Format for LIHEAP Assisted Households and (2) the Recommended Format for LIHEAP Applicant Households. The required (mandatory) data elements include the following for each type of LIHEAP assistance provided by grantees: the number and income levels of applicant and assisted households, and the number of assisted households with one or more members who were elderly, disabled, or a young child.

 

                                    The Recommended Long Format for LIHEAP Assisted Households includes a section on “Requested Data” that lists a break out of young children into two age categories. The House and Senate Committee reports concerning the 1994 reauthorization of LIHEAP requested this break out. However, submission of these data is optional.

 

                                    Indian tribes and tribal organizations must submit only the data elements contained in the Recommended Short Format for LIHEAP Assisted Households. Also, those insular areas that receive regular LIHEAP block grant allocations of less than $200,000 must submit only the data elements contained in the Recommended Short Format for LIHEAP Assisted Households. The required data include the number of assisted households for each type of LIHEAP assistance provided by these grantees.

 

                                    A grant award will not be made for FFY 2005 until we receive the grantee’s complete LIHEAP Household Report for FFY 2004 and all other application requirements have been completed.

 

                                    Estimated (rather than actual) LIHEAP household data will be accepted with the LIHEAP grant application so as not to delay the awarding of first-quarter LIHEAP grants for FFY 2005.

 

                                    Grantees are requested to submit actual household data by December 10, 2004. Actual, not estimated, data are reported in the Department’s LIHEAP Annual Report to Congress for FFY 2004; and are used in the calculation of LIHEAP targeting performance measures.

 

Report Format

 

Attached are the recommended formats for the LIHEAP Household Report. Grantees can report the data elements in a different format as long as the attached instructions are followed. It is important that grantees understand the attached detailed instructions for reporting the data.

 

An Excel spreadsheet of the LIHEAP Household Report FFY 2004 is available for downloading on the LIHEAP web site at:

www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/liheap/forms.htm#HHREPORT

 

We prefer that the States use the electronic spreadsheet if at all possible. The spreadsheet contains formulas that assist in compiling accurate tabulations. Also, the use of the spreadsheet expedites the processing and editing of the data.

 

Your attention to the points below will minimize our need to contact you for clarification of your State’s reported data. This will enhance our timeliness to compile and report the data.

 

                                    General Reporting Pointers

 

                                    Please include on your report the name, title, and telephone number of the person to be contacted if we need to clarify information in your LIHEAP Household Report.

 

                                    The household data are for the reporting period for FFY 2004 (October 1, 2003 - September 30, 2004). Grantees may choose to operate their programs on a different program year (e.g., starting January 1 or July 1). However, the household data still needs to be reported for the federal fiscal year.

 

                                    Count all households assisted only with federal LIHEAP funds regardless of whether the source of funds was:

 

                                              FFY 2004 regular block grant funds, emergency contingency funds, and/or leveraging incentive funds,

 

                                             funds carried over from FFY 2003,

 

                                             unobligated FFY 2003 leveraging incentive funds,

 

                                             LIHEAP funds obligated in FFY 2003 that were expended in FFY 2004, and

 

                                             oil overcharge (Petroleum Violation Escrow) funds.

 

                                    Exclude from your counts other households are served through your LIHEAP program with non LIHEAP funds. You may include in the “notes” section of the report information about the source of non LIHEAP funds, the number of households served, and which type of energy assistance the households received through the nonfederal funds.

 

                                   Include complete data for households receiving LIHEAP weatherization assistance even if those funds were used under the Department of Energy’s Low Income Weatherization Assistance Program.

 

                                   The count of applicant households includes the number of households that apply for LIHEAP assistance, whether or not they actually receive LIHEAP assistance. Therefore, the count includes the number of approved, denied, and pending applications for LIHEAP assistance. The grantee defines what constitutes an “application.”

 

                                   Mark “x” in the second column of the Recommended Long Format for LIHEAP Assisted Households and Applicant Households for any data that are estimates as opposed to actual counts for the type of assistance provided.

 

Poverty Pointers

 

                                    Gross annual household incomes are to be used in computing household poverty percentages, using the HHS Poverty Guidelines that were in effect at the beginning of FFY 2004 (October 1, 2003) regardless if a grantee switches to the new guidelines that were published in February 2004. Specifically, the calculations of household poverty percentages need to be based on the 2003 HHS Poverty Guidelines which can be found on our website at:

www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/liheap/im03-03.htm

 

                                    Household poverty levels must be reported according to the intervals specified in the Recommended Long Format for LIHEAP Assisted Households and Recommended Format for LIHEAP Applicant Households.

 

                                    The sum of the number of assisted households across the poverty levels must equal the total number of assisted households for each type of assistance provided by the State.

 

                                    The sum of the number of applicant households across the poverty levels and the column “Income data unavailable,” must equal the total number of applicant households for each type of assistance provided by the State.

 

Target Group Pointers

 

                                    The data on target groups (elderly, disabled, or young children) are household counts, not person counts or head of household counts.

 

                                    A household is to be counted for each target groups in which the household has at least one member for that group (see attachment, Example–Counting Target Group Households).

 

                                    The count of assisted households with at least one child 5 years or younger is required. Counts of assisted household with at least one child (1) who is 2 years old or under and (2) who is between 3 years through 5 years are requested/optional data items if the grantee elects to report the data. If reporting the requested/optional data:

                                               First count the number of assisted households with at least one child 5 years or under for each type of LIHEAP assistance provided. Using the count of assisted households with at least one child 5 years or younger, then count the number of those assisted households with at least one child (1) who is 2 years old or under and (2) count the number of those assisted households with at least one child between 3 years through 5 years.

 

                                              Do not add the number of households with at least one child 2 years or under and the number of households with at least one child between 3 years through 5 years to arrive at the number of households with at least one child 5 years or under. This will result in a duplicate count to the extent that a household has at least one child 2 years or under and at least another child between 3 years through 5 years. This is why it is necessary to first count the number of households with at least one child 5 years or under.

 

Note–The sum of the number of households with at least one child 2 years or under and the number of households with at least one child 3 years through 5 years must be greater than the number of households with at least one child 5 years or under. This reflects the fact that a household may have one child that falls under the age group of 2 years or under and another child that falls in the age group of 3 years through 5 years.

 

INQUIRIES TO:        Leon Litow, Program Analyst

Division of Energy Assistance

Office of Community Services

Administration for Children and Families, HHS

370 L'Enfant Promenade, S.W.

Washington, D.C. 20447

 

202-401-5304 (Voice)

202-401-5661 (Fax)

llitow@acf.hhs.gov

www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/liheap/

 

ATTACHMENTS:     (A)  Instructions for Completing the LIHEAP Household Report

                                    (B)  LIHEAP Household Report for FY 2004 - Recommended Long Format for LIHEAP Assisted Households and Applicant Households

                                    (C)  LIHEAP Household Report for FY 2004 - Recommended Short Format for LIHEAP Assisted Households

                                    (D)  EXAMPLE--Counting Target Group Households

 

 

 

 

                                    _________________/s_____________

Nick St. Angelo

Director

Division of Energy Assistance

                                    Office of Community Services


Top of Page

www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/liheap
Posted on 7/7/04