LIHEAP Household Report for Federal Fiscal Year (FFY) 2008
THIS CONTAINS INFORMATION ISSUED BY THE U.S. ADMINISTRATION FOR
CHILDREN AND FAMILIES IN LIHEAP ACTION TRANSMITTAL NO. LIHEAP-
AT-2008-9, DATED 7/29/08
TO: LOW INCOME HOME ENERGY ASSISTANCE PROGRAM (LIHEAP)
GRANTEES
SUBJECT: LIHEAP Household Report for Federal Fiscal Year
(FFY) 2008
RELATED Sections 2605(c)(1)(G) and 2610(b) of the Low
REFERENCES: Income Home Energy 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); Section 3507 of
the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995: LIHEAP Action
Transmittal 06-10, dated September 26, 2006.
PURPOSE: To remind LIHEAP grantees to include statutory
data from the LIHEAP Household Report for FFY 2008
as part of their LIHEAP grant application for FFY
2009.
The purpose of the LIHEAP Household Report is not
to count the number of households assisted with
FFY 2008 LIHEAP funds. Instead, the purpose is to
count the number of households assisted with
LIHEAP funds during FFY 2008.
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 FFY on households applying for and
assisted by LIHEAP. We receive the reported
information through the LIHEAP Household Report.
Information collection activities, such as the
LIHEAP Household Report, must receive approval
from the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) in
accordance with Section 3507 of the Paperwork
Reduction Act of 1995.
We notified LIHEAP grantees in LIHEAP AT-06-10,
dated September 26, 2006, that we were seeking the
renewal of OMB approval with revisions of the
LIHEAP Household Report that was to expire on
October 31, 2006. We are awaiting the outcome of
OMB's clearance process to reinstate with
revisions the LIHEAP Household Report. As with FY
2007, we cannot delay grantees' submission of
their LIHEAP grant applications that requires the
statutory data reported in the LIHEAP Household
Report.
CONTENT: The following items 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 Attachment 1,
LIHEAP Household Report for FFY 2008 - Recommended
Long Format for LIHEAP Assisted Households and
Applicant Households for FY 2008.
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 Attachment 2,
LIHEAP Household Report for FFY 2008 - 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 2009 until
we receive the grantee's complete data, as
specified in the LIHEAP Household Report for FFY
2008, and all other application requirements have
been completed.
• Estimated (rather than actual) LIHEAP household
data will be accepted with the FFY 2009 LIHEAP
grant application so as not to delay the awarding
of first-quarter LIHEAP grants for FFY 2009.
• Grantees are to submit actual household data by
December 15, 2008 (this also is the deadline for
State, Tribal, and Insular Area grantees to submit
additional information to complete their block
grant application/plans for FFY 09). Actual, not
estimated, State-level data is required for the
Department's LIHEAP Annual Report to Congress for
FFY 2008.
Given that grantees will be submitting their
LIHEAP grantee application shortly, we cannot
require grantees to use the LIHEAP Household
Report without OMB approval. However, the LIHEAP
statute requires that the necessary data be
included as part of each grantee's LIHEAP
application for funding. Given that we are not
changing anything for FFY 2008 from what was
required previously, we request that you submit
the data electronically using the LIHEAP Household
Report for FFY 2008. The report indicates that
OMB approval is pending.
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
report instructions in Attachment 3 are followed.
It is important that grantees review and
understand the attached detailed instructions for
reporting the data.
An Excel spreadsheet of the LIHEAP Household
Report FFY 2008 is available for downloading from
the Federal LIHEAP web site at:
http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/ocs/liheap/grantees/
forms.html#household_report
We prefer that the States use the Excel
spreadsheet. 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 also will enhance our
timeliness in compiling, editing, and reporting
the data.
Reporting Pointers for the Long and Short Formats
• 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 2008 (October 1, 2007 - September 30,
2008). Grantees may choose to operate their
programs on a different program year (e.g.,
starting January 1 or July 1). However, complete
household data still need to be reported for FFY
2008.
• Count all households assisted only with Federal
LIHEAP funds regardless of whether the source of
funds was:
O FFY 2008 regular block grant funds, emergency
contingency funds, and/or leveraging incentive
funds;
O funds carried over from FFY 2007;
O unobligated FFY 2007 emergency contingency
funds;
O unobligated FFY 2007 leveraging incentive
funds;
O LIHEAP funds obligated in FFY 2007 that were
expended in FFY 2008; and
O oil overcharge (Petroleum Violation Escrow)
funds, if any, used for LIHEAP.
• Exclude from your counts other households that
were served through your LIHEAP program with non-
LIHEAP funds.
• Report unduplicated household counts by type of
LHEAP assistance. Please note that the
instructions have been revised to clarify the
meaning of unduplicated household counts.
Reporting Pointers for the Long Format Only
• 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 grantee defines what constitutes an
"application." However, 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.
This count should be greater than the count of
recipient households.
• The Recommended Long Format for LIHEAP Assisted
Households and Applicant Households includes the
question, "Do the data below include estimated
figures?" Mark "x" for "No" or "Yes" to the
question. If "Yes," 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(s) of assistance provided. When
actual data are reported later, please remove the
"x" from the column(s) and mark "x" to indicate
"no" to the above question.
• Data needs to be completed for each type of LIHEAP
assistance provided in FFY 2008. The data will be
checked for consistency against the type of LIHEAP
benefits that States will report on the LIHEAP
Grantee Survey for FFY 2008. We plan to send this
Survey to the States in November 2008 with a due
date of December 15, 2008. This is also the same
date for States to provide actual household counts
for FY 2008 and final revisions to grantees'
LIHEAP application for FY 2009 funds).
Poverty Pointers for Long and Short Formats
• 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 2008 (October 1, 2007) regardless
if a grantee switches to the new HHS Poverty
Guidelines that were published in February 2008.
Specifically, the calculations of household
poverty percentages are to be based on the 2007
HHS Poverty Guidelines which are available at:
www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/ocs/liheap/guidance/
information_memoranda/im07-01.html
Poverty Pointers for Long Format Only
• 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 intervals must equal the total
number of assisted households for each type of
assistance provided by the State. If this is not
the case, please note the reason why. We will
follow up with the State to have this problem
corrected for the following Fiscal Year's LIHEAP
Household Report.
• The sum of the number of applicant households
across the poverty intervals 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 for Long Format Only
• 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 group
in which the household has at least one member for
that group (see the specific instructions for
counting target group households in Attachment 3).
• The count of assisted households with at least one
child 5 years or younger is required. Counts of
assisted households with at least one child (a)
who is 2 years old or younger and (b) who is
between 3 years through 5 years are requested
(i.e., optional) data items if the grantee elects
to report the data. If reporting the requested/
optional data:
O Count the number of assisted households with at
least one child 5 years or younger for each
type of LIHEAP assistance provided. Using that
count of assisted households, count the number
of those assisted households with at least one
child who is 2 years old or younger. Again,
using the number of assisted households with at
least one child 5 years or younger, repeat the
same procedure for those assisted households
with at least one child between 3 years through
5 years old.
O Do not add the number of households with at
least one child 2 years or younger 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 younger. This will result in
a duplicate count and it is why it is necessary
to first count the number of households with
at least one child 5 years or younger.
INQUIRIES TO: Sharon Williams, 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
202-401-4558 (Voice)
202-401-5661 (Fax)
sharon.williams@acf.hhs.gov
www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/ocs/liheap/
ATTACHMENTS: (1)LIHEAP Household Report for FFY 2008 -
Recommended Long Format for LIHEAP Assisted
Households and Applicant Households
(2)LIHEAP Household Report for FFY 2008 -
Recommended Short Format for LIHEAP Assisted
Households
(3)Instructions for Completing the LIHEAP
Household Report for FFY 2008
_____________/s_____________
Nick St. Angelo
Director
Division of Energy Assistance
Office of Community Services
