News Release

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Friday, December 10, 2010

Contact: ACF Press Office
(202) 401-9215

HHS Makes Available More Than $670 Million in Additional LIHEAP Funding

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius today announced the availability of more than $670 million to states to help low income families with their heating bills this winter. These funds represent additional grants to states, tribes and territories under the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP).

“Low-income families need and deserve help with critical necessities such as home heating in the winter,” said Secretary Sebelius. “As the weather gets colder in much of the country, these funds will help reduce the burden of high energy costs for families in need.”

LIHEAP helps eligible families pay the costs of heating and insulating their homes in the winter, and cooling their homes in the summer. HHS is releasing this additional allocation of LIHEAP funds now to ensure that states have resources available to support their energy assistance programs as the weather turns colder.

The funds released today are in addition to the $2 billion that were made available to states in October after the first continuing resolution was enacted for fiscal year 2011. With this release, a total of $2.7 billion is currently available to states for heating assistance needs in FY 2011, which began October 1, 2010.

“Winter months can be especially difficult for families in cold states seeking to make ends meet,” said David A. Hansell, HHS acting assistant secretary for children and families. “These LIHEAP funds will provide needy families with a critical source of heating assistance so they may stay warm and safe during the coldest months of the year.”

A complete list of money made available to states thus far in FY 2011 is below:

FY 2011 LIHEAP Funds Under the CR
State	Available Funding
Alabama	$41,047,405
Alaska	$8,392,539
Arizona	$19,610,849
Arkansas	$22,417,053
California	$118,597,211
Colorado	$34,986,872
Connecticut	$59,684,120
Delaware	$9,798,718
District of Columbia	$8,108,310
Florida	$69,411,227
Georgia	$54,894,291
Hawaii	$3,922,175
Idaho	$14,853,698
Illinois	$135,915,743
Indiana	$57,191,147
Iowa	$40,536,856
Kansas	$26,247,922
Kentucky	$33,864,828
Louisiana	$35,575,766
Maine	$28,668,332
Maryland	$54,764,760
Massachusetts	$100,529,181
Michigan	$129,608,367
Minnesota	$86,408,148
Mississippi	$24,722,279
Missouri	$54,505,789
Montana	$15,110,117
Nebraska	$22,892,076
Nevada	$9,966,500
New Hampshire	$19,767,875
New Jersey	$109,541,625
New Mexico	$11,923,056
New York	$276,594,758
North Carolina	$72,422,187
North Dakota	$15,594,755
Ohio	$132,766,064
Oklahoma	$28,960,297
Oregon	$26,529,316
Pennsylvania	$159,566,162
Rhode Island	$17,142,286
South Carolina	$32,577,854
South Dakota	$13,282,802
Tennessee	$45,318,534
Texas	$115,506,734
Utah	$18,270,442
Vermont	$14,816,726
Virginia	$65,532,143
Washington	$42,784,464
West Virginia	$22,532,956
Wisconsin	$77,779,740
Wyoming	$7,210,875

States	$2,648,653,930

Tribes	$30,085,388
Territories	$3,632,682

Individuals interested in applying for energy assistance should contact their local/state LIHEAP agency. For more information, go to http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/ocs/liheap/ or http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/ocs/liheap/brochure/brochure.html.

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Note: All HHS press releases, fact sheets and other press materials are available at http://www.hhs.gov/news.

Last revised: January 03, 2011