The Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) is authorized by Title XXVI of the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1981, Public Law 97-35, as amended. The Administration for Children and Families within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services administers at the federal level the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program.
The Human Services Amendments of 1994 (Public Law 103-252) reauthorized LIHEAP through FY 1999. As part of the reauthorization, Congress amended the purpose of LIHEAP to clarify that LIHEAP is "to assist low income households, particularly those with the lowest income, that pay a high proportion of household income for home energy, primarily in meeting their immediate home energy needs."
NCIDC received a grant from the Federal Government last year to assist 34 California Tribes. Each Tribe enacts an authorizing resolutions indicating that their funding should be administered through NCIDC to providing LIHEAP services to help their American Indian families heat their homes during the winter months and cool them during summer. Assistance checks are sent directly to the fuel and utility companies and other vendors on behalf of the eligible clients. This method of payment is extremely efficient, as the vendors quickly receive the money, thus enabling the eligible familes to receive the maximum benefit from the assistance. Tribes who utilize the services of NCIDC can also avoid much of the administrative burden of the LIHEAP program, while still getting the services out to their membership in a timely fashion. In the last year, over 384 American Indian households were served through the LIHEAP program.
