A household is defined as a person or group of persons, including related roomers, who live together as one economic unit that pays for its home-heating energy. A household may pay for its energy either directly to an energy provider or indirectly as a designated or undesignated part of rent. Eligibility is determined by the household composition at the time the application is processed.
55 Pa. Code § 601.3; LIHEAP; State Plan § 601.3
All members of an applicant household, regardless of their relationship, will be counted when determining the household size and the amount of the LIHEAP Cash grant. Related roomers must be included in the household. Unrelated roomers can be included in a household, or they can apply for LIHEAP as a separate household.
Persons who are living with an applicant household but who received LIHEAP benefits as a member of another household during the program year are not counted as members of the applicant household. However, their income is still counted towards the LIHEAP household's income.
Children placed in the household through foster care or kinship care placement can be counted as household members or they can be excluded from the household, whichever is more beneficial to the household.
NOTE: If a child in the home through foster care or kinship care is included in the LIHEAP household, their income, including all non-excluded subsidies, should be counted as income for the household. If the child is excluded from the household, their income should not be counted.
Adopted children and children in a household through a Subsidized Permanent Legal Custodian (SPLC) agreement are considered members of the LIHEAP household.
Children in shared-custody cases may be members of only one household for Cash and one household for Crisis; these may be the same or different households. The parent who applies for LIHEAP Cash and/or Crisis first may include the child in his or her household, regardless of the amount of time the child spends in each household.
55 Pa. Code § 601.41(a)(1); LIHEAP State Plan § 601.41(a)(1) and 601.41(a)(1)(i)
A household member whose permanent residence is in the LIHEAP household but is temporarily living somewhere else, can still be included in the LIHEAP household as long as they have not permanently moved out of the household. Verification will be needed as to why they are living elsewhere and when they are expected to return to the household.
Examples: Children and Youth Services placement and admittance in a medical facility.
Reissued February 10, 2017 replacing July 22, 2016