Federal grant programs / Department of Health and Human Services

Low-Income Home Energy Assistance (93.568)

Also known as LIHEAP

• Awarded, FY 2021 to 2025$27 billion
• Grant awards2,624
• Typical award$59,153
• Awarded in FY 2025$4.1 billion
• Size rank22 of 1824
• Type of assistanceFormula grants

Key findings

• Annual funding fell from $9.3 billion in fiscal 2021 to $4.1 billion in fiscal 2025.
• It is the 22nd largest of 1,824 federal grant programs by five-year awards.
• The 20 largest recipients received 72% of the money.
• Awards went to recipients in 56 states and territories.

What the program funds

The objective of the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) is to make awards available to states, the District of Columbia, U.S. territories, and Native American tribes and tribal organizations for the purpose of assisting eligible households to meet immediate home energy needs. The target population is low-income households, especially those with the lowest incomes and the highest home energy costs or needs in relation to income and family size. There are four components of LIHEAP: (1) block grants, (2) energy Emergency Contingency funds, (3) Leveraging Incentive awards, and (4) the Residential Energy Assistance Challenge Program (REACH). Block grant funds are distributed by formula to recipients who design their own programs according to very broad federal guidelines. Emergency Contingency funds may be awarded to recipients in the event of a natural disaster or other emergency and typically must be utilized under the normal statutory and regulatory requirements that apply to block grants. Leveraging Incentive funds allows for HHS to set aside a portion of appropriated funding to reward recipients that have acquired non-federal resources to provide services to LIHEAP-eligible households beyond what could be provided by other federal funds. The REACH program makes competitive awards available to recipients to help eligible households reduce their energy vulnerability through community-based organizations. Contingency funds, Leveraging Incentive awards, and REACH funding are only administered when funding for those components is available and allocated to them. This program is administered by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Administration for Children and Families (ACF) Office of Community Services.

From the federal Assistance Listing. Read the full listing on SAM.gov.

Open opportunities

No opportunity under this program is open or forecast on Grants.gov right now. Programs often post once a year, so the funding history below shows what to expect.

Rules from the program listing

Who can apply

All States, the District of Columbia, federally and State-recognized Indian Tribal governments and organizations, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, Guam, American Samoa, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands may receive direct awards. Only LIHEAP recipients active in FY 2024 received IIJA LIHEAP awards. They did so without the need for a separate application.

What the money can and cannot pay for

Up to 10 percent of these funds may be used for planning and administration by state and territories recipients. Tribal Organizations have a different administrative earmark. Up to 15 percent may be used for low-cost residential weatherization. Beginning April 1st each year, LIHEAP recipients may request in writing a waiver from HHS for that federal fiscal year to increase the amount of funds that can be allotted by the recipient for residential weatherization up to 25 percent of the total LIHEAP award for that year. Recipients must reserve a reasonable amount of funding for crisis assistance through at least March 15th each year. Depending upon specific appropriations, HHS may allocate supplemental LIHEAP leveraging incentive funds to current recipients, based upon receipt of a Leveraging Report made available by the Department regarding the extent to which the recipients acquired nonfederal leveraged resources to provide additional benefits and services to LIHEAP-eligible households to help them meet their home heating and cooling needs. Funds are used to conduct on-site compliance reviews of LIHEAP recipients and to provide training and technical assistance.

Matching requirements

Statutory Formula: Title n/a, Part n/a, Subpart n/a,Public Law n/a.42 USC 8623Matching requirements are not applicable to this assistance listing. MOE requirements are not applicable to this assistance listing.

Deadlines

Sep 01, 2025 to Sep 15, 2025

Award range and average, in the agency's words

Average award to primary recipients in FY25 is $19,900,000 for regular LIHEAP funding and $597,046 for IIJA funding. The estimated range in direct awards is approximately $2,122to $394,566,816 for regular LIHEAP FY25 funding For IIJA of FY2025 funding, the estimated range in direct awards is approximately $50 to $11,509,333.

Quoted from the program's federal Assistance Listing. The notice of funding opportunity is the official source for each competition's rules.

Who usually wins

State and local governments received 99% of the money, tribes 1.1% and colleges and universities less than 0.1%.

By state

Each state below has its own page for this program, with its recipients and yearly totals.

Award amounts are federal obligations reported to USAspending.gov for fiscal 2021 to 2025; see how our data works.