HD29 - The Structure for the Effective Delivery of Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program Services


Executive Summary:
Chapter 693 of the 1998 Acts of Assembly directed the Department of Social Services (DSS) to allocate at least fifteen percent of its low-income fuel assistance program funding to weatherization assistance programs. The bill also requested the Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD) to coordinate a study of the structure for the effective delivery of Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) services with other affected organizations. The study was to consider (i) the coordination between local weatherization providers, local community action agencies, and local departments of social services and (ii) possible future programs, using LIHEAP funds, that would encourage self-sufficiency by addressing the underlying contributing causes of energy induced hardships. DHCD, with DSS assistance, was to report its findings and recommendations to the Governor and the General Assembly.

The federal government established the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) Block Grant in 1981 as one response to the energy crisis of the late 1970s and early 1980s. The program, which aids low-income households, was designed to minimize government bureaucracy and maximize involvement by civic institutions. Over time, local and state LIHEAP providers, encouraged by Congress and the federal government, have become increasingly innovative in the areas of policy and program design, development, and implementation. However, there are differences of opinion at the national, state and local levels concerning the current best use of LIHEAP funds. The following questions summarize the varying perspectives of the major concerned parties:

• Should LIHEAP address short term versus long term needs?

• Should an administratively simple and inexpensive program design, but one that lacks on-site assessments of household circumstances, be pursued instead of one that employs on-site visits with an assessment of needs as they relate to the goals of LIHEAP?

• Should LIHEAP, and to what extent, address energy self-sufficiency through programs going beyond simply paying vendors or qualifying clients for the purchase of energy?

The federal Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), which administers the LIHEAP program, has expressed its concern about issues of coordination at the state and local level. Coordination of services is one of sixteen assurances to which a state grantee must agree as part of an application to HHS. Each of the three networks of low-income services providers represented in the LIHEAP Study Group contributes to meeting the goals in the LIHEAP statute and regulations. Convening the Study Group gave its members, and the represented organizations, a better understanding of the work each does, provided opportunities to work together to improve local service delivery, and demonstrated the potential to work together to improve state level policy- and decision-making.