LIHEAP DCL Second Funding Release FY 2020

Publication Date: February 27, 2020
Current as of:

Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program

Dear Colleague Letter

DCL#: LIHEAP-DCL-2020-04

DATE: February 27, 2020

TO: States, tribes, and territories

SUBJECT: Second FY 2020 LIHEAP Funding Release

ATTACHMENT(S): 1. FY 2020 Second Funding Release of LIHEAP Block Grant Funds to States and Territories (PDF)
                                2. FY 2020 Second Funding Release of LIHEAP Block Grant Funds to Indian Tribes and Tribal Organizations (PDF)

Dear Colleagues,

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 releasing $381 million in a second round of funding for the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) for federal Fiscal Year (FFY) 2020.

Congress appropriated these funds under the Further Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2020 (Public Law 116-94), which provided the final budget for FY 2020 and which the President signed into law on December 20, 2019. This legislation provides for a total funding amount of approximately $3.74 billion and a change to the funding formula methodology. This change added an additional hold-harmless provision that called for HHS to do the following:

  1. Hold the net allocations of all states' and territories' at no less than 97% of the amounts that they received for FFY 2019; and
  2. Ratably reduce the states' and territories' that would get more than 100 percent of their 2019 awards in order to ensure the 97 percent floor is met for all states and territories.

As of today, OCS has allocated 99% of the funding available to grantees for FY 2020. One percent of the total appropriation has been reserved for the Secretary’s statutory transfer authority.

For further details, see the attached tables that show the release amounts for states and territories and Native American tribes and tribal organizations.

Please contact your DEA liaison if you have any questions or need any assistance.

Thank you for your attention and OCS looks forward to continuing to provide high quality services to OCS grantees.

 

/s/
Lauren Christopher
Director, Division of Energy Assistance
Office of Community Services