LIHWAP DCL-2022-08 Report Changes FY2022

The Office of Community Services (OCS) is releasing draft changes to the LIHWAP Quarterly and Annual Report Forms and instructions for the Low Income Household Water Assistance Program (LIHWAP).  Proposed changes result from comments received during the 60-day federal registrar notice period for Office of Community Services Data Collection for the Low Income Household Water Assistance Program Reports.  In addition to the updated report forms and instructions, attached is an Appendix with all public comments received regarding LIWHAP reporting requirements, and OCS responses to all comments.

Background

OCS published Dear Colleague Letter (DCL) 2022-01 Report Forms Updated FY2022 to notify LIHWAP recipients of the requirement to submit quarterly and annual reports as required by the LIHWAP Terms and Conditions. Subsequently, a 60-day Federal Register Notice for the Office of Community Services Data Collection for the Low Income Household Water Assistance Program Reports was published on October 26, 2021. This notice alerted the public of the request for emergency approval for six months of data collection and provided a sixty-day comment period related to the full request that would continue data collection beyond six months.

LIHWAP Quarterly and Annual Report Forms and Instructions Comment Period

In response to the Federal Register Notice publication and opportunity for comment, OCS received four sets of comments. Two were letters were from consortia of consumer and environmental advocacy organizations, one was a letter from a national association that serves as an education and policy organization for the state directors of LIHEAP and LIHWAP, and the final comment was a single online comment from a member of the general public. 

Each of the letters from the national associations and advocacy organizations contained multiple recommendations related to the content, frequency, and potential organization and analysis of data. OCS conducted a detailed review of all recommendations.  In order to assure that each specific recommendation was considered and that decisions about each recommendation were documented, a workbook was created documenting each recommendation, the organization or organizations submitting comments, a change decision, and notes on the reason a change was made or not made in response to the recommendation. 

A detailed summary of comments received is attached as Appendix 1.

Recommendations Requiring No Change

Some recommendations required no change in OCS plans. For example, some commenters recommended that OCS make data available online in an easy-to-understand dashboard. OCS concurs with this recommendation and does plan to make data from the reports available in a public-facing dashboard. OCS will make the data available on a timely basis and in a user-friendly format.

Report Form Changes Made in Response to Comments

Key changes made in response to public comments included the following:

• OCS corrected two formatting issues, in which a document cut-off or was missing text;
• A formula calculation issue noted in one cell in the Quarter 4 spreadsheet was corrected;
• OCS concurred with a recommendation to add additional financial obligation information to the quarterly report starting in quarter three of Fiscal Year 2022;
• OCS corrected the definition of Multiple Water Services on both the Quarterly and Annual Report Forms and clarified the use of funds related to non-water utility services;
• OCS concurred with a recommendation to add the demographic request to include households served by housing type separated by homeowners and renters. This indicator will be added to the Annual Report Form for FY 2023.

Other Recommendations Considered with No Change to Report Forms

OCS also received multiple recommendations for additional or more detailed collection of data that OCS concurred could be potentially-valuable, but that were determined not to be feasible within the current emergency grant effort.  In many instances, OCS balanced the consideration of the potential value of additional or more detailed breakdown of data against the additional burden or operational challenges associated with the recommendation and determined that the recommendations were not feasible.

Recommendations considered, but resulting in no changes to the forms included the following:

• OCS considered a recommendation to add additional data collection about customers who applied for and did not receive assistance, as well as information on individuals who did not apply for assistance, and data on the amount that waitlisted households would have been eligible for if resources had been available. While OCS concurs with the value of information on unmet need, it was determined that it would not be feasible to request and receive consistent and reliable data on waitlisted households in this emergency effort and the amount for which these households would have been eligible.  However, OCS has already included narrative questions related to unmet water and wastewater needs, which will be analyzed.
• OCS considered recommendations to require aggregation of data at the municipal or county levels, or a vendor-by-vendor or utility service area basis. While OCS recognizes the potential value of local, vendor-level, or additional quarterly data, the potential value of this information was balanced against the significant additional burden and operational challenges of requiring all grant recipients to organize data in this way in the upcoming quarterly and annual reports for an emergency effort. OCS also notes that there is no comparable requirement for the LIHEAP (on which many of the procedures for this effort are modeled). 

Comments Regarding Quarterly Reporting

OCS also considered conflicting recommendations related to quarterly reporting. Two sets of comments (one from the association representing state directors of LIHEAP organizations and one from the general public) expressed concern about the expectation for quarterly reports. Other recommendations from consumer and environmental advocacy organizations recommended additional quarterly data collection or additional breakdown of data in annual reports on a quarterly basis.  OCS determined that the current proposed quarterly collection (with the addition of financial obligation data) would provide critical information for federal program management and oversight purposes, but that additional information at the level of detailed recommended by the advocacy organizations would not be feasible in the current effort. Additionally, OCS agrees with feedback received from commentors that quarterly reporting should be continued in FY 2023 rather than sunsetting after the first program year. Given that OCS expects all LIHWAP programs will have implemented their programs and started accepting applications by quarter 1 in FY 2023, Section III on implementation information will be removed from the quarterly report in FY 2023.

Federal Register Notice

A new 30 day Federal Register Notice has been issued for the above changes. The Federal Register Notice also includes a web link to these reporting forms along with instructions for public comment.