4 CRISIS ASSISTANCE

Eligibility - 2604(c), 2605(c)(1)(A) 4.1 Designate the income eligibility threshold used for the crisis component Add Household size Eligibility Guideline Eligibility Threshold 1 All Household Sizes State Median Income 60.00% 4.2 Provide your LIHEAP program's definition for determining a crisis. If you administer multiple crisis assistance programs (winter, summer, and/or year-round), Include all program definitions. Wyoming refers to Crisis Situations as Special Situations. Special Situations include: deposits either to restore or establish power; back bill assistance to avoid disconnection and restore power after disconnection; deliverable fuel special fill to avoid running out of heating fuel; propane tank set and rental assistance; heat loss mitigation due to heating system failure; heating system failure prevention assistance, as well as cooling system assessment and remediation/repair/installation and replacement. These types of Crisis assistance are designed to remove or prevent a life or health threatening situation relating to a heating/cooling emergency or cooling loss emergency. 4.3 What constitutes a life-threatening crisis? A life threatening crisis is defined as an energy related circumstance that presents a serious and imminent threat to the health and safety of a household member. An imminent threat is defined as an immediate danger with the potential to result in serious injury/illness and/or loss of life. Crisis Requirement, 2604(c) 4.4 Within how many hours do you provide an intervention that will resolve the energy crisis for eligible households? 48Hours 4.5 Within how many hours do you provide an intervention that will resolve the energy crisis for eligible households in life-threatening situations? 18Hours Crisis Eligibility, 2605(c)(1)(A) Winter Crisis Summer Crisis Year-Round Crisis 4.6 Do you have additional eligibility requirements for Crisis Assistance? 4.7 Check the appropriate boxes below to indicate type(s) of assistance provided 0 Do you require an Assets test? Do you give priority in eligibility to: Older Adults (60 years or older)? Individuals with a disability? Young Children? Households with high energy burdens? Other (Specify): Deliverable fuel users In Order to receive crisis assistance: Must the household have received a shut-off notice or have a near empty tank? Must the household have been shut off or have an empty tank? Must the household have exhausted their regular heating benefit? Must renters with heating costs included in their rent have received an eviction notice? Must heating/cooling be medically necessary? Must the household have non-working heating or cooling equipment? Other (Specify): Do you have additional/differing eligibility policies for: Renters? Renters living in subsidized housing? Renters with utilities included in the rent? Explanations of policies for each "yes" checked above: For a heat loss emergency due to failure of heating system assistance, renters are referred to the landlords. However, on a strict case by case basis, such situations may be reviewed for consideration if it can be documented and verified that the landlord is also low-income and does not have the resources to fix or replace the heating system Determination of Benefits 4.8 How do you handle crisis situations? Separate component Benefit Fast Track, no separate amount of crisis funds is issued. Rather benefits are issued to crisis customers within crisis response time frames. Other - Describe: 4.9 If you have a separate component, how do you determine crisis assistance benefits? Amount to resolve the crisis. $0 Other - Describe: Crisis assistance must resolve the crisis. There are times when clients may have to locate resources in addition to the amount of LIEAP Crisis benefit they are eligible for in order to completely resolve the crisis. Verification is required. There is no maximum benefit amount for the No Heat Broken Furnace crisis, however. To determine the crisis benefit levels for all Crisis types other than No Heat Broken Furnace, No Heat Prevention, and cooling assessment and remediation, Wyoming uses a sliding scale which is attached to this State Plan. Crisis Requirements, 2604(c) 4.10 Do you accept applications for energy crisis assistance at sites that are geographically accessible to all households in the area to be served? Yes No Explain. Wyoming does not require a separate application for Crisis assistance. Applicants may select Crisis assistance on the application at the time of application. And, clients may phone in requests for crisis assistance should the crisis situation present itself after approval for heating assistance. There is an 800# and email address available for this purpose. We have also implemented a client portal and clients may enter requests for crisis assistance directly into the portal. 4.11 Do you provide individuals who are individuals with a disability the means to: Submit applications for crisis benefits without leaving their homes? Yes No If No, explain. Travel to the sites at which applications for crisis assistance are accepted? Yes No If No, explain. Wyoming does not provide travel assistance. However, Wyoming does allow applications to be taken via telephone when the applicant is not able to apply online. This provides our diverse applicant population the greatest possible accessibility, preference, and ease in applying for assistance. Many of our Wyoming applicants live extremely remote and have zero to unreliable internet connectivity, so Wyoming allows the full range of application submission options to ensure that no eligible applicant household is excluded due to restrictive application policies and procedures. If there is enough interest, the Agency will travel to local areas to assist with application completion and submission. If you answered "No" to both options in question 4.11, please explain alternative means of intake to those who are homebound or physically disabled? Benefit Levels, 2605(c)(1)(B) 4.12 Indicate the maximum benefit for each type of crisis assistance offered. Winter Crisis $1,100.00 maximum benefit Summer Crisis $0.00 maximum benefit Year-round Crisis $0.00 maximum benefit 4.13 Do you provide in-kind (e.g. blankets, space heaters, fans) and/or other forms of benefits? Yes No If yes, Describe 4.14 Do you provide for equipment repair or replacement using crisis funds? Yes No If you answered "Yes" to question 4.14, you must complete question 4.15. 4.15 Check appropriate boxes below to indicate type(s) of assistance provided. Winter Crisis Summer Crisis Year-round Crisis Heating system repair Heating system replacement Cooling system repair Cooling system replacement Wood stove purchase Pellet stove purchase Solar panel(s) Utility poles / gas line hook-ups Other (Specify): Fire extinguishers 4.16 Do any of the utility vendors you work with enforce a moratorium on shut offs? Yes No If you responded "Yes" to question 4.16, you must respond to question 4.17. 4.17 Describe the terms of the moratorium and any special dispensation received by LIHEAP clients during or after the moratorium period. There is a moratorium on shut offs for LIEAP clients with one of our natural gas providers. 4.18 If you experience a natural disaster, do you intend to utilize LIHEAP crisis funds to address disaster related crisis situations? Yes No If yes, describe Crisis assistance will be provided as needed. If any of the above questions require further explanation or clarification that could not be made in the fields provided, attach a document with said explanation here.