Arkansas receiving $3.4 million through federal program

WASHINGTON — More than $3.4 million is being funneled to Arkansas through a federal program that assists low- income families with their home energy costs, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services said Thursday.

Tens of thousands of families across Arkansas benefit from the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program, known as LIHEAP, which helps households with heating and cooling expenses, weatherization and crisis assistance.

The announcement comes as American families continue to face high consumer prices, including raised costs when it comes to electricity, gasoline and household energy.

“When you have households that are struggling to meet their basic needs every month, then having several hundred dollars worth of utility assistance available two or three times a year does have an impact,” said Terry Bearden, executive director of the Arkansas Community Action Agencies Association. “Is it enough to lift them above the poverty line? No. But that’s not what type of program this is. This is a supportive program.”

The association represents community action agencies that work to fight poverty and provide assistance to moderateto low-income people in Arkansas. Community action agencies pay utility companies using money from Arkansas LIHEAP, Bearden said.

The Arkansas Department of Energy and Environment oversees the distribution of program money in the state.

More than 66,000 households in Arkansas were served by LIHEAP in fiscal 2020, according to the Health and Human Services Department. Most of the $44 million available to Arkansas went to crisis assistance, heating assistance and cooling assistance.

Arkansas is a high poverty state, Bearden said, and there are people who work at lowwage jobs while facing rising housing costs. The federal energy assistance program helps increase household stability, she said.

By having the ability to access supportive services, the cost of housing can be brought down in general, she said.

“Especially during the pandemic, we’ve seen folks who lost income and are just now starting to recover from that loss of income,” she said.

There are also health considerations when it comes to heating and cooling, Bearden said. Going without adequate heating and cooling is not conducive to a healthy home environment, she said.

“LIHEAP is essential to protecting the health of households across the country by ensuring safe and healthy indoor temperatures,” HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra said in a statement.

January Contreras, assistant secretary for the federal Administration for Children and Families, said in a statement that the funding would allow them “to carry out our agency’s mission to promote the well-being of the children, families and communities we serve.” The administration is a division of HHS.

The $3.4 million for Arkansas is in addition to other money funneled through the federal energy assistance program during the coronavirus pandemic.

Arkansas had been awarded more than $30 million in LIHEAP funding due to the American Rescue Plan, a legislative package backed by Democrats and signed by President Joe Biden in March 2021.

Arkansas’ all-Republican congressional delegation last year voted against the $1.9 trillion package.

Across the nation, states, tribes and territories are seeing $100 million in LIHEAP funding from a separate package on infrastructure approved by Biden in November 2021, the HHS previously reported.