NLIHC Joins Leadership Conference Letter in Opposition to Removing LIHEAP Reporting Requirements Related to Sex, Race, and Ethnicity

By Sarita Kelkar, NLIHC Policy Intern 

NLIHC joined a letter led by the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights (“Leadership Conference”) urging the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to continue collecting sex, race, and ethnicity data in its annual assessment of the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP). Each year, the Office of Community Services (OCS) within HHS publishes an Annual LIHEAP Report to Congress—embodying a “full and accurate account of who the program is serving and who is being left behind,” as the letter describes. The letter was sent in response to a notice published in the Federal Register on April 9 proposing revisions to reporting requirements concerning sex, race, and ethnicity data. If removed, such data will obscure if LIHEAP is effectively assisting groups disproportionately experiencing higher energy costs and burden.  

LIHEAP was established in 1981 as a federal block grant program that supports low-income households in meeting their home energy needs. While most states use LIHEAP grants to help eligible households cover heating and cooling costs, grantees can also use funding for other energy-related services such as low-cost weatherization projects or crisis reserves. Assistance is targeted at 1) low-income households that pay a significant proportion of their income to home energy (households with the lowest incomes and highest energy needs) and 2) populations more sensitive to extreme heat or cold, including young children, individuals with disabilities, and older adults. The OCS-proposed notice claims that removing sex, race, and ethnicity reporting requirements “are not required for statutory LIHEAP reporting or performance management.”  

The letter describes how: 

• LIHEAP was designed to reach households experiencing the greatest energy burden. Excluding sex, race, and ethnicity data neglects the captured difference in burden certain populations face, where:   
• “...women, particularly older women living alone and women-headed households with children, experience disproportionately high rates of energy burden and energy insecurity compared to men-led households . . . Black women-led households face higher energy burdens compared to white, Hispanic, Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander, or American Indian or Alaskan Native women...” 
• “...in the United States, Black, Indigenous, and Hispanic households experience substantially higher rates of utility hardship, inability to maintain safe home temperatures, and risk of utility shutoffs than white households . . . these disparities cannot be explained by income alone and reflect structural differences . . . [leaving] many people of color, particularly Black people, disproportionately vulnerable to high energy costs and energy insecurity.” 
• “Because Congress specifically directed LIHEAP to prioritize households experiencing the greatest energy burden, information that helps identify which households and communities are disproportionately affected is directly relevant to effective program administration, sound use of taxpayer dollars, and implementation of congressional intent.”  

With the entire LIHEAP staff fired in April 2025 and total funding for LIHEAP in FY26 yet to be established (see Memo, 11/3/25), removing data collection requirements on sex, race, and ethnicity not only undermines LIHEAP’s effectiveness, but further inhibits the program’s ability to protect the daily health and safety of people. 

Read the letter here.  

Learn more about the notice regarding sex, race, and ethnicity reporting requirements here.  

Explore NLIHC’s chapter on LIHEAP from Advocates’ Guide 2026.