Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program
Dear Colleague Letter
DCL#: LIHEAP-DCL-2024-02
DATE: October 24, 2023
TO: Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) Grant Recipients
SUBJECT: First LIHEAP Funding Announced Award of FY 2024
ATTACHMENT(S):
1. FY 2024 Funding Announced Award of LIHEAP Block Grant Funds to States and Territories 2. FY 2024 Funding Announced Award of LIHEAP Block Grant Funds to Indian Tribes and Tribal Organizations
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Administration for Children and Families (ACF), Office of Community Services (OCS), Division of Energy Assistance (DEA), is pleased to announce award of $3.7 billion of Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) funding. This announcement includes approximately $3.6 billion of Federal Fiscal Year (FY) 2024 regular block grant funding to LIHEAP grant recipients. This funding is provided under the Continuing Appropriations Act, 2024 and Other Extensions Act (CR) (Public Law 118-15), which the President signed into law on September 30, 2023. This funding also includes an additional $100 million for FY 2024, which is available under President Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Appropriations Act (IIJA), (Public Law 117-58).
Please find attached a table detailing the allocations to all state and territory recipients. Also attached is a table detailing the allocations to tribal governments and organizations under this release. The tables split the $3.6 billion of regular block grant funding into two columns, based on last year’s appropriations from Public Law 117-328. One is based on the $1.5 billion of regular funds appropriated under the Department of Health and Human Services Appropriations Act, 2023. The other is based on $2.5 billion of additional funds appropriated under the Disaster Relief Supplemental Appropriations Act, 2023.
OCS released 90% of the funding available under the CR, as split into the $1.5 billion and $2.5 billion appropriations, and 100% of the funding available under the IIJA to each grant recipient with a submitted FY 2024 LIHEAP plan. The funding was allocated utilizing the annual updates to the LIHEAP allocation formula. Each grant recipient will be able to access their Notice of Award (NOA) for both the CR and the IIJA funding through the On Line Data Collection (OLDC) system and draw down funds from the Payment Management System (PMS).
In addition to this funding release, OCS is also officially launching the LIHEAP Eligibility Tool. This user-friendly tool allows households across the country to quickly identify if they might be eligible for LIHEAP assistance by inputting basic information like income and household size.
The LIHEAP Eligibility Tool can be found on energyhelp.us and is available in Spanish, Traditional Chinese, and Simplified Chinese.
OCS has also released the LIHEAP Heating Assistance Toolkit, which includes a variety of outreach materials, spotlight videos, and winter safety resources designed to help keep families safe and warm during cold weather.
In light of ongoing natural disasters OCS would like to remind grant recipients of the flexibility to revise their FY 2024 LIHEAP Plans as needed. OCS would also like to remind grant recipients of the resources on disaster planning and response that are available on the LIHEAP such as the disaster Q&As, Dear Colleague Letter 2021-03: LIHEAP Flexibilities in the Wake of Recent Storms and Power Outages, and LIHEAP DCL 2023-08 LIHEAP Flexibilities During Hurricane and Tropical Storm Season. These resources and more are available on the OCS Disaster Flexibilities Hub.
If you have any questions or need any assistance from our office regarding LIHEAP, please contact your federal LIHEAP liaison.
Thank you for your attention to these matters. OCS looks forward to continuing to provide high-quality services to OCS partners.
/s/ Megan Meadows Director Division of Energy Assistance Office of Community Services
