Sneak Preview: Toolkit Provides Tips for LIHWAP Client Intake

(The following was excerpted from a recent Grants Compliance Expert article.) Because of the similarities between the new Low-Income Household Water Assistance Program (LIHWAP) and the existing Low-Income Household Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP), a program office within the Department of Health and Human Services Administration for Children and Families (ACF) is recommending that LIHWAP recipients model policies and procedures for the program with similar ones developed for LIHEAP to promote efficiencies.

The LIHWAP program, which is overseen by the ACF Office of Community Services (OCS), was created under the American Rescue Plan Act (Pub. L. 117-2) to provide funds to U.S. states, territories and tribes to assist low-income households with water and wastewater bills. OCS recently issued a toolkit to support LIHWAP recipients and their subrecipients with procedural considerations and tips related to the intake of potential LIHWAP clients, eligibility determinations and benefit determinations.

“OCS encourages recipients not only to model LIHWAP intake and benefits efforts on [existing] LIHEAP processes and procedures, but also to look for ways to simplify and expedite the distribution of resources,” the toolkit explains. “This will not only help prevent duplicate systems and ensure operational efficiency, it can also improve services by helping households avoid having to provide identical information and fill out duplicative applications.”

In addition, OSC emphasizes that LIHWAP procedures should be documented and readily available to program staff, other relevant employees (including fiscal), subrecipients, vendors and clients, as appropriate. However, while OCS has modeled the LIHWAP terms and conditions on the LIHEAP statute to ensure consistency in processes, procedures, policies and systems, LIHWAP funds are not otherwise subject to LIHEAP statutory requirements, so grantees have flexibility to modify their existing processes and procedures for LIHWAP.

(The full version of this story has now been made available to all for a limited time here.)

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