LIHEAP DCL-2020-01 Funding Release FY 21

Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program

Dear Colleague Letter

DCL#: LIHEAP-DCL-2021-01

DATE: November 5, 2020

TO: States, tribes, and territories

SUBJECT: FY 2021 Funding Release

ATTACHMENT(S): 1. FY 2021 Funding Release of LIHEAP Block Grant Funds to States and Territories (PDF)
                                2. FY 2021 Funding Release of LIHEAP Block Grant Funds to Indian Tribes and Tribal Organizations (PDF)

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families, Office of Community Services (OCS), Division of Energy Assistance (DEA), announces the release of approximately $3.36 billion of Federal Fiscal Year (FY) 2021 regular block grant funding to LIHEAP grantees. This funding is provided under the Continuing Appropriations Act, 2021 and Other Extensions Act, ("Continuing Resolution"), which the President signed into law on October 1, 2020 (Public Law 116-159). The Continuing Resolution provides funding for LIHEAP until December 11, 2020. This release reflects 90 percent of the total or annualized amount of funds available under the Continuing Resolution to grantees at the beginning of the program year.

Please find attached a table detailing the allocations to state and territory grantees and a table detailing the allocations to tribal grantees under this release. Grantees with completed FY 2021 LIHEAP plans will be sent award letters with their individual funding amounts. Each grantee that submitted a complete LIHEAP plan for FY 2021 received 90 percent of the funding available under the Continuing Resolution, after accounting the annual updates to the LIHEAP allocation formula data used to calculate the block grant allocation amounts.

Should you have any questions or need any assistance from our office, please contact your DEA federal liaison.

In light of ongoing natural disasters and the winter weather commencing in some parts of the country, we remind you of the flexibilities you have to revise your FY 2021 LIHEAP Plans as needed throughout this year to reflect significant changes to your policies to meet changing needs. We also remind you of our resources about disaster planning and response available on the LIHEAP Q & As on Disaster Relief page of our ACF LIHEAP website.

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