HHS releases $346M in second round funding for LIHEAP for FY 2021

The Division of Energy Assistance within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced last week that it will release $346 million in a second round of funding for the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) for federal fiscal year 2021.

LIHEAP, a program run through the Office of Community Services, assists families with managing energy costs associate with home energy bills, energy crises, and weatherization and energy related minor home repairs. Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic and during the country’s recent extreme winter weather events, LIHEAP funding has been a “lifeline for families,” LIHEAP officials wrote in a Feb. 20 statement.

Congress appropriated the funds under the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2021, which was signed into law on Dec. 27, 2020.

Lauren Christopher, director of the Division of Energy Assistance, said that the Office of Community Services has allocated 99 percent of the funding available to grantees for fiscal year 2021. One percent of the total appropriation has been reserved for the Secretary’s statutory transfer authority.

Through the CARES Act, LIHEAP reported supplemental funding of $900 million. In January, the National Energy Assistance Directors’ Association (NEADA) noted that those funds, which had already been allocated, only reached a fraction of the households in need. The organization argued that a joint appropriation of another $25 billion for rent relief and utility bills under the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2021 would primarily go toward rent assistance. They urged Congressional leadership to provide $10 billion in additional emergency funding to “make up the shortfall.”

“Without [appropriate funding], the drag this could put on families — and smaller utilities — could imperil a struggling economy and its recovery efforts,” LIHEAP officials wrote.