Today, U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand is announcing that New York State was awarded $412.5 million in funding for the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) to help New Yorkers with rising home heating costs this winter. This funding includes over $63 million Gillibrand fought to secure in the recently passed continuing resolution. LIHEAP is a federal program that helps millions of Americans, including over 1 million New York households, heat their homes and will be especially critical this winter as residential energy costs are expected to rise drastically. Administered through the Administration for Children and Families at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, this funding will also help families make cost-effective home energy repairs to lower their heating and cooling bills.
“LIHEAP provides a lifeline for thousands of low-income families across New York State,” said Senator Gillibrand. “As winter approaches and the cost of groceries and other essentials remains high, many simply cannot afford to pay exorbitant heating bills. Today, I’m proud to announce that New York has received a total of $412.5 million in LIHEAP funding. I fought for this money to ensure that New Yorkers who rely on LIHEAP assistance have what they need to heat their homes all winter and I will keep fighting to make sure every New Yorker can afford essentials and stay safe and warm.”
The total funding announced today includes an additional $1 billion appropriated by Congress to address rising energy costs, as well as $100 million appropriated for 2023 from President Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.
2023 LIHEAP Funds: New York was awarded a total of $412,485,883 to assist low-income families ahead of the winter season. This includes:
- $342,866,235 from the regular LIHEAP block grant funding
- $63,292,500 in supplemental funding
- $6,327,148 in funding appropriated for FY 2023 from President Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act
The Office of Community Services OCS directly funds tribal nations in New York that administer LIHEAP directly. Information about directly funded tribal LIHEAP programs in New York is included below.
- Tribes in New York that are directly funded by OCS in fiscal year 2023 have received $223,871 as of November 1, 2022
- A list of directly funded tribes in New York is below, together with their award amount:
- Seneca Nation received $143,485
- St. Regis Mohawk Band received $80,386
Senator Gillibrand has consistently worked to help New Yorkers afford their utilities. Last month, Gillibrand announced that $60 million in estimated funding for LIHEAP was coming to New York following a bipartisan, bicameral letter she joined in August calling on congressional leadership to provide emergency supplemental funding for LIHEAP. Earlier this year, Senator Gillibrand called on the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to use its statutory authority to ensure that Americans’ household energy bills would not be driven up by energy market manipulation in wholesale natural gas and electricity markets. Last year, she called on the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to address the ongoing energy crisis and ensure families that rely on LIHEAP had the resources they needed to stay warm through the winter. When millions of workers were laid off at the onset of the pandemic, Senator Gillibrand fought alongside her colleagues to deliver $900 million in LIHEAP funding in the CARES Act and an additional $4.5 billion in supplemental funding to the program as part of the American Rescue Plan. She is also a cosponsor of the Heating and Cooling Relief Act, which would expand LIHEAP to universalize energy assistance for all of those who need it.
Individuals interested in applying for energy assistance can visit energyhelp.us or?call the National Energy Assistance Referral (NEAR) hotline toll-free at:?1-866-674-6327.