Short Format

3

Instructions for LIHEAP Household Report for FFY 2015 – Short Form

Division of Energy Assistance/OCS/ACF

July 27, 2015

The Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995

This information collection (OMB Control No. 0970-0060; Expiration Date: xx/xx/xx) is conducted in accordance with the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) statute (Public Law 97-35, as amended), and 45 CFR 96.82. Information received from this collection provides data to the Administration and Congress in its oversight of grantees' performance in administering the LIHEAP program.

Public reporting burden for this information collection (LIHEAP Household Report for Federal Fiscal Year (FFY 2015)—Short Form) is estimated to be an average burden of 1 hour per respondent. The estimate includes the time for reviewing instructions, and gathering, editing, maintaining, and reporting the data.

The responses to this collection are required in order to obtain LIHEAP funding in accordance with Section 2605(c)(1)(G) of the LIHEAP statute. Specifically, this information collection is required of Indian Tribes/Tribal Organizations and Insular Areas (other than the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico) that are applying for FFY 2016 funds.

This information is not considered confidential; therefore, no additional safeguards are considered necessary beyond that customarily applied to routine government information. An agency may not conduct or sponsor, and a person is not required to respond to, a collection of information unless it displays a currently valid OMB control number.

Introduction

Section 309 of the Human Services Amendments of 1994, Public Law 103-252, amended section 2605(c)(1)(G) of the LIHEAP statute to require grantees, as part of their annual LIHEAP grant application, to report certain data on households which apply for LIHEAP assistance and on households which receive LIHEAP assistance in the most recent Federal Fiscal Year.

Federal LIHEAP funds

Households could be assisted in FFY 2015 with the following Federal LIHEAP funds:

• FFY 2015 LIHEAP regular block grant funds and, if applicable, leveraging incentive funds;

• LIHEAP funds carried over from FFY 2014;

• LIHEAP funds obligated in FFY 2015 that were expended in FFY 2015;

• Assurance 16 funds; and

• oil overcharge (Petroleum Violation Escrow) funds, if any, designated for LIHEAP.

The purpose is to report on the number of households assisted with all available LIHEAP funds during FFY 2015, including those LIHEAP funds obligated in FFY 2014, but not expended until FFY 2015.

Basic Types of LIHEAP assistance

LIHEAP grantees have the flexibility to choose which types of LIHEAP assistance best meet the needs of their low income households. Federal LIHEAP funds are used to provide the following basic types of assistance to households:

• heating assistance;

• cooling assistance;

• winter/year round crisis assistance;

• summer crisis assistance; and

• weatherization and energy-related home repairs.

LIHEAP grant applications will not be considered complete without submission of the data in the LIHEAP Household Report, including the identifying information. Consequently, a FFY 2016 LIHEAP grant will not be awarded to a grantee until its completed LIHEAP Household Report for FFY 2015 is received, and all other application requirements have been completed.

Given that the LIHEAP Household Report for FFY 2015 needs to be included as part of the LIHEAP grant application for FFY 2016, estimated counts of household data will be accepted for any of the LIHEAP Household Report’s data elements so as not to delay the awarding of LIHEAP grants for the following FFY. Final LIHEAP household data for FFY 2015 need to be submitted to us by December 15, 2015.

General Requirements

Your understanding of the reporting instructions will minimize our need to contact you for clarification or correction of your agency’s reported data, saving both our agencies time and effort.

Identifying Information

Please include the following identifying information in your agency’s LIHEAP Household Report: the name, email address, and telephone number of the person to be contacted if we need to follow up with your agency about its LIHEAP Household Report. You will not be able to submit the report through the Administration for Families and Children’s Online Data Collection (OLDC) system if this information is not included.

Reporting Period

Household data are for the reporting period for FFY 2015 (October 1, 2014 - September 30, 2015). Grantees may 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 2015.

Definition of Household

The unit of LIHEAP counting is the household; not the head of household or persons in the households. LIHEAP household counts need to be consistent with Section 2603(5) of the LIHEAP statute that defines the term "household" as “any individual or group of individuals who are living together as one economic unit for whom residential energy is customarily purchased in common or who make undesignated payments for energy in the form of rent.”

Given the above definition, a homeowner, a renter whose home energy costs are not included in its rent, and a renter whose home energy costs are included in its rent are counted as separate households. Also, a boarder who rents from a homeowner a basement with its own heating or cooling system is counted as a separate household.

Households Assisted with Federal LIHEAP Funds

Count all households assisted in FFY 2015 with Federal LIHEAP funds, as indicated above. Include all households that received LIHEAP weatherization assistance even if those funds were used under the Department of Energy’s Low Income Weatherization Assistance Program.

Unduplicated Household Counts

Report unduplicated counts of household counts that received LIHEAP assistance, by type of LIHEAP assistance provided in FFY 2015. The concept of unduplicated counts means that an item, such as a household, is counted only once for a specific category. For example, a household receives two heating assistance benefits and three winter crisis assistance benefits. Count that assisted household once under the category of heating assistance and once under the category of winter crisis assistance.

Submission

September 1, 2015 is the deadline for all grantees to submit their LIHEAP Household Report for FFY 2015 as part of their LIHEAP state plans for FFY 2016. (This date may be extended for tribal grantees if the state(s) in which the tribe is located agrees to a later date. The date may be extended for state or territorial grantees if HHS agrees to a later date.)

Please submit the completed Household Report in OLDC, attaching all documents required for the FFY 2016 application (plan, program integrity assessment, certifications, etc.)

OLDC can be accessed here: https://extranet.acf.hhs.gov/ssi/. If you have not yet created an account in OLDC, contact your LIHEAP regional liaison for assistance.