LIHEAP Eligibility for Individuals Living in Home and Community Based Services (HCBS), PLA-19692-610 (Published December 12, 2019)
A household is defined as a person or group of persons, including related roomers, who live together in the same unit or structure 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.
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 their household, regardless of the amount of time the child spends in each household.
Example: Michael applies and is approved for LIHEAP Cash and includes their child Sophie in November. Sophie’s parent Janet applies for LIHEAP Cash and Crisis in January and lists Sophie on the application. Sophie is not an eligible household member for Janet’s LIHEAP Cash budget as they were already a member of Michael’s LIHEAP Cash. Since Michael has not applied for LIHEAP Crisis, Sophie can be included in Janet’s LIHEAP Crisis budget.
LIHEAP State Plan § 601.41(a)(1)
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: A child placed into foster care may be included in the LIHEAP household if they are expected to return to the household. An individual residing in a short-term nursing facility may be included if they are expected to return to the household.
Updated August 20, 2024, replacing August 17, 2022