LIHEAP AT 2010-9 Household Report for FY 2010
THIS CONTAINS INFORMATION ISSUED BY THE U.S. ADMINISTRATION FOR CHILDREN AND FAMILIES IN LIHEAP ACTION TRANSMITTAL NO. LIHEAP-AT-2010-9, DATED 7/22/10
TO: LOW INCOME HOME ENERGY ASSISTANCE PROGRAM (LIHEAP) GRANTEES AND OTHER INTERESTED PARTIES
ACTION
INTENDED FOR: X STATES
X TRIBES/TRIBAL ORGANIZATIONS
X TERRITORIES
SUBJECT: LIHEAP Household Report for Federal Fiscal Year (FFY) 2010
RELATED
REFERENCES: Sections 2605(c)(1)(G) and 2610(b) of the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Act of 1981 (title XXVI of Public Law 97-35, the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1981, as amended); 45 Code of Federal Regulations, Part 96; House Report 103-483 and Senate Report 103-251; OMB Control No. 0970-0060 (Expiration Date-October 31, 2006); Section 3507 of the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995; LIHEAP Information Transmittal 2009-3, dated January 26, 2009.
PURPOSE: To remind LIHEAP grantees to include statutory data from the LIHEAP Household Report for FFY 2010 (October 1, 2009 - September 30, 2010) as part of their LIHEAP grant application for FFY 2011.
The purpose of the LIHEAP Household Report is, in part, for grantees to report on the number of households assisted in FFY 2010 with appropriated FFY 2010 LIHEAP funds and other available LIHEAP funds. These data are to be included in the Department's LIHEAP Report to Congress for FY 2010.
BACKGROUND: Under the amendments to the LIHEAP statute enacted in 1994 (Public Law 103-252), LIHEAP grant applications must include a report for the previous FFY on households applying for and assisted by LIHEAP. We receive the reported information through the LIHEAP Household Report.
Information collection activities, such as the LIHEAP Household Report, must receive approval from the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) in accordance with Section 3507 of the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995. OMB approved the LIHEAP Household Report through October 31, 2011. We notified the States of this action through LIHEAP Information Memorandum (IM) 2009-3, dated January 26, 2009. As stated in that IM, States will be required to submit additional data for FY 2011.
CONTENT: The following items pertain to the LIHEAP Household Report:
• The 50 States, the District of Columbia, and the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico must report on the required data elements contained in the LIHEAP Household Report for FFY 2010 - Recommended Long Format for LIHEAP Assisted Households and Applicant Households for FY 2010 (Attachment 1).
The required (mandatory) data elements for each type of LIHEAP assistance provided by grantees include the following: the number and income levels of applicant and assisted households, and the number of assisted households with one or more members who were elderly, disabled, or a young child.
• The Recommended Long Format for LIHEAP Assisted Households for FFY 2010 includes a section on "Requested Data" that lists a break out of young children into two age categories--young children 0-2 years and 3-5 years. The House and Senate Committee reports concerning the 1994 reauthorization of LIHEAP requested this break out. However, submission of these data is optional.
• Prior to the recent increase in LIHEAP appropriations to $5.1 billion, Indian Tribes/Tribal Organizations and Insular Areas that received less than regular LIHEAP block grant allocations of $200,000 had to submit only the data elements contained in Recommended Short Format for LIHEAP Assisted Households for FY 2010 (Attachment 2). The required data include the number of assisted households for each type of LIHEAP assistance provided by these grantees.
The recent increase in LIHEAP appropriations would require over 50 Indian Tribes and Insular Areas to complete the Recommended Long Format for LIHEAP Assisted Households for the first time. This would greatly increase the information burden on these relatively small grantees. Consequently, the $200,000 threshold has been eliminated for these grantees. Instead, all Indian Tribes/Tribal Organizations and Insular Areas (other than the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico) have to complete the Recommended Short Format for LIHEAP Assisted Households for FFY 2010.
• A grant award will not be made for FFY 2011 until we receive the grantee's complete data, as specified in the LIHEAP Household Report for FFY 2010, and all other application requirements have been met.
• Estimated (rather than actual) LIHEAP household data will be accepted with the FFY 2011 LIHEAP grant application so as not to delay the awarding of first quarter LIHEAP grants for FFY 2011.
• Grantees are to submit actual household data by December 15, 2010 (this also is the deadline for State, Tribal, and Insular Area grantees to submit additional information to complete their block grant application/plans for FFY 2011). Actual, not estimated, State-level data are required for the Department's LIHEAP Annual Report to Congress for FFY 2010.
Other than date changes, there is nothing different in the LIHEAP Household Report for FFY 2010 from that of the LIHEAP Household Report for FFY 2009. The instructions for the Report are included in Attachment 3.
Report Format
Attached are the recommended formats for the LIHEAP Household Report. Grantees can report the data elements in a different format as long as the reporting instructions in Attachment 3 are followed. It is important that grantees review and understand the attached detailed instructions for reporting the data.
We request that you submit the data electronically using the LIHEAP Household Report for FFY 2010. An Excel spreadsheet of the LIHEAP Household Report FFY 2010 is available for downloading from the Federal LIHEAP web site.
We prefer States to use the LIHEAP Household Report's Excel spreadsheet. The spreadsheet contains formulas that assist in compiling accurate tabulations. Also, the use of the spreadsheet expedites the processing and editing of the data.
Your attention to the points below will minimize our need to contact you for clarification or correction of your State's reported data. This also will enhance our timeliness in compiling, editing, and reporting the data. Inaccurate, unavailable, or untimely data will be noted for the affected States in the appropriate tables in the LIHEAP Report to Congress.
Reporting Pointers for the Long and Short Formats
• Please include on your LIHEAP Household Report the name, title, date, and telephone number of the person to be contacted if we need to clarify information in your LIHEAP Household Report. The Report will be considered incomplete if this information is not included.
• The household data are for the reporting period for FFY 2010 (October 1, 2009 - September 30, 2010). Grantees may choose to 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 2010.
• Count all households assisted in FY 2010 only with Federal LIHEAP funds regardless of whether the source of funds was:
•FFY 2010 regular block grant funds, emergency contingency funds, and/or leveraging incentive funds;
•funds carried over from FFY 2009;
•unobligated FFY 2009 leveraging incentive funds;
•LIHEAP funds obligated in FFY 2009 that were expended in FFY 2010; and
•oil overcharge (Petroleum Violation Escrow) funds, if any, used for LIHEAP.
• Exclude from your counts other households that were served through your LIHEAP program with non-LIHEAP funds.
• Report unduplicated household counts by type of LIHEAP assistance.
Reporting Pointers for the Long Format Only
• Include complete data for households receiving LIHEAP weatherization assistance even if those funds were used under the Department of Energy's Low Income Weatherization Assistance Program.
• The grantee defines what constitutes an "application." However, the count of applicant households includes the number of households that apply for LIHEAP assistance, whether or not they actually receive LIHEAP assistance. Therefore, the count includes the number of approved, denied, and pending applications for LIHEAP assistance. This count should be greater than the count of assisted households by type of LIHEAP assistance.
• The Recommended Long Format for LIHEAP Assisted Households and Applicant Households includes the general question, "Do the data below include estimated figures?" Mark "x" for "No" or "Yes" to the question. If "Yes," mark "x" in the second column of the Recommended Long Format for LIHEAP Assisted Households and Applicant Households for any data that are estimates, as opposed to actual counts, for the type(s) of assistance provided. When actual data are reported later, please remove the "x" from the column(s) and mark "x" for "no" to the above general question.
• Data needs to be completed for each type of LIHEAP assistance provided in FFY 2010. The data will be checked for consistency against the type of LIHEAP assistance that States will report on the LIHEAP Grantee Survey for FFY 2010. We plan to send this Survey to the States in November 2010 with a due date of December 15, 2010. (This is also the same date for States to provide actual household counts for FY 2010 and final revisions to grantees' LIHEAP application for FY 2011 funds).
• The counting of households becomes complicated if a household splits into two households over the FFY. This will become a critical issue when States need to report an unduplicated number of households receiving any type of LIHEAP assistance in FY 2011.
Poverty Pointers for Long and Short Formats
• For statistical purposes, gross annual household incomes are to be used in computing household poverty percentages, using the 2009 HHS Poverty Guidelines that were in effect at the beginning of FFY 2010 (October 1, 2009).
Poverty Pointers for Long Format Only
• Household poverty levels must be reported according to the intervals specified in the Recommended Long Format for LIHEAP Assisted Households and Recommended Format for LIHEAP applicant Households.
• The sum of the number of assisted households across the poverty intervals must equal the total number of assisted households for each type of assistance provided by the State. If this is not the case, please note the reason why. We will follow up with the State to have this problem corrected for the following Fiscal Year's LIHEAP Household Report.
• The sum of the number of applicant households across the poverty intervals and the column "Income data unavailable" must equal the total number of applicant households for each type of assistance provided by the State.
• For those States reporting households that received "other" crisis assistance and the count of such households is included in winter/year round or summer crisis assistance data, please indicate so in the Notes section. Include in the Notes section the number of households that received "other" crisis assistance and briefly describe the other crisis assistance that provided.
• For those States reporting households that received "other" crisis assistance and the count of such households is excluded in winter/year round or summer crisis assistance data, then complete the row of data elements for that type of assistance. Indicate whether those households can be added to winter/year round or summer crisis assistance without duplicating the count of crisis assisted households. Briefly describe the other crisis assistance that was provided.
Target Group Pointers for Long Format Only
• The data on target groups (elderly, disabled, or young children) are household counts, not person counts or head of household counts.
• A household is to be counted for each target group in which the household has at least one member for that group (see the specific instructions for counting target group households in Attachment 3).
• The count of assisted households with at least one child 5 years or younger is required. Counts of assisted households with at least one child (a) who is 2 years old or younger and (b) who is between 3 years through 5 years are requested (i.e., optional) data items if the grantee elects to report the data. If reporting the requested/optional data:
First count the number of assisted households with at least one child 5 years or younger for each type of LIHEAP assistance provided. Second, using that count of assisted households, count the number of those assisted households with at least one child who is 2 years old or younger. Third, using the number of assisted households with at least one child 5 years or younger, repeat the same procedure for those assisted households with at least one child between 3 years through 5 years old.
Do not add the number of households with at least one child 2 years or younger and the number of households with at least one child between 3 years through 5 years to arrive at the number of households with at least one child 5 years or younger. This will result in a duplicate count which is why it is necessary to first count the number of households with at least one child 5 years or younger.
INQUIRIES TO: Chad Sawyer, Program Specialist
Division of Energy Assistance
Office of Community Services
Administration for Children and Families, HHS
370 L'Enfant Promenade, S.W.
Washington, D.C. 20447
202-260-0277 (Voice)
202-401-5661 (Fax)
chad.sawyer@acf.hhs.gov
ATTACHMENTS: (1) LIHEAP Household Report for FFY 2010 - Recommended Long Format for LIHEAP Assisted Households and Applicant Households
(2) LIHEAP Household Report for FFY 2010 - Recommended Short Format for LIHEAP Assisted Households
(3) Instructions for Completing the LIHEAP Household Report for FFY 2010
/s/
Nick St. Angelo
Director
Division of Energy Assistance
Office of Community Services