Policies to Increase Access to Low-Income Energy Programs Massachusetts LIHEAP Case Study 2019 National Energy & Utility Affordability Conference
Presentation Overview LIHEAP Participation Trends LIHEAP Outreach Analysis Policies to Increase Access to LIHEAP Questions and Answers 2
LIHEAP Participation Trends 3
LIHEAP Recipients FY 2012 – FY 2017 Fiscal Year Massachusetts LIHEAP # Households % Change 2012 200,303 2013 190,517 -5% 2014 183,009 -4% 2015 180,010 -2% 2016 164,763 -8% 2017 159,987 -3% Change -40,316 -20% Source: LIHEAP Data Warehouse 4
Income-Eligible Served Percent of LIHEAP Income-Eligible Served FY 2012 – FY 2017 Fiscal Year Massachusetts LIHEAP Income-Eligible Households Households Served % of Income-Eligible Households Served 2012 851,512 200,303 23.52% 2013 866,450 190,517 21.99% 2014 859,275 183,009 21.30% 2015 860,902 180,010 20.91% 2016 859,731 164,763 19.16% 2017 856,746 159,987 18.67% Source: LIHEAP Data Warehouse 5
Vulnerable Populations Served Percent of LIHEAP Income-Eligible Vulnerable Populations Served FY 2012 – FY 2017 Fiscal Year Massachusetts LIHEAP % Elderly Served % Disabled Served % Child < 6 Served 2012 19.5% 17.0% 30.0% 2013 18.8% 16.3% 27.7% 2014 18.7% 15.7% 25.8% 2015 15.8% 24.7% 2016 18.0% 14.9% 21.7% 2017 15.0% 20.3% Source: LIHEAP Data Warehouse 6
Interest in Outreach Research Furnish in-depth information to understand: Participation by local agency Participation by low-income population segment Best practices in application intake and outreach 7
LIHEAP Outreach Analysis 8
Research Approach Research Deliverables Data Sources Income-eligible population characteristics LIHEAP recipient population characteristics Program penetration rates Best practices in local intake and outreach Findings and recommendations to improve outreach 2018 LIHEAP Data File American Community Survey State and Local Outreach Protocols In-Depth Interviews 9
LIHEAP Participation Source: ACS (2012 – 2016) / FY 2018 LIHEAP Data File 10
Regional Participation Source: ACS (2012 – 2016) / FY 2018 LIHEAP Data File 11
Application Processing Source: ACS (2012 – 2016) / FY 2018 LIHEAP Data File 12
Denials Source: FY 2018 LIHEAP Data File 13
Denials Source: FY 2018 LIHEAP Data File 14
Findings and Recommendations Key Findings Variation in LIHEAP participation by agency Variation in LIHEAP participation within agency service areas Low denial rates and short application processing times correlated with high participation Large majority of denials are due to missing documentation rather than program ineligibility Key Recommendations Develop strategies to reduce denial rates and improve application processing times Identify technology enhancements to improve outreach to new applicants and retain existing recipients Foster local partnerships to increase public awareness of LIHEAP and provide satellite application assistance 15
Policies to Increase Access to LIHEAP 16
Pre-Government Shutdown FY2019 Applications Pre-Government Shutdown 17
Post-Government Shutdown FY2019 Applications Post-Government Shutdown 18
FY2019 Applications for Full Program Year
Reason for Denial 2018 vs 2019 20
Best Practices from Annual Training Annual Conference Color Coded Client Notifications Partner Intake Sites Automated phone calls 21
Progress and Next Steps Over the course of heating season, incompletes trended downward. By April, incompletes were down 7%. With the spike in new applications at the end of the program year, incompletes increased to 3% higher that last year (Update as new data comes). Next steps Client portal prescreening and document upload. Social Media ads Increase partnerships 22
Questions Ed Kiely Massachusetts LIHEAP Edward.Kiely@state.ma.us Matthew Lyons APPRISE Matthew-Lyons@appriseinc.org 23