149 tribes across 25 states now run their own LIHEAP program directly, federal tally shows

How many tribes run their own LIHEAP program

The Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program, a federal program almost everyone calls LIHEAP, pays part of a household heating or cooling bill. States usually run it and decide who qualifies. A tribe can instead take its own direct federal grant and run the program itself, so tribal staff, not a state office, decide who in the tribe qualifies. As of fiscal year 2026, 149 tribes and tribal organizations in 25 states hold that direct grant relationship, according to the LIHEAP Clearinghouse, the federal resource center for the program. That answers a simple question people search for, how many tribes run their own LIHEAP program, with a current count rather than an older one.

How the federal government pays tribal grantees each year

The Office of Community Services, the federal office that runs LIHEAP nationally, released 46,564,890 dollars to tribal grantees in fiscal year 2024, 46,743,632 dollars in fiscal year 2025 and 47,174,468 dollars in fiscal year 2026, according to the LIHEAP Clearinghouse. That is a rise of about 1.3% over the 3 years, a share this site calculated from those totals, not a figure the office states directly. The office paid almost all of the fiscal year 2026 total in 1 payment on November 28, 2025, then a smaller final payment of 4,803,963 dollars on April 17, 2026.

What a one time payment looks like next to a full year of funding

Congress does not always fund tribal LIHEAP grantees on the same yearly schedule. In 2020, the CARES Act sent tribal grantees 10,200,000 dollars in emergency supplemental funding, in addition to the regular grant that year. In 2021, the American Rescue Plan Act sent tribal grantees 48,300,000 dollars in supplemental funding, a single one time payment larger than the entire 47,174,468 dollars tribal grantees received for all of fiscal year 2026. Neither supplemental payment counts toward the fiscal year totals above, both were emergency money in addition to the regular annual grant.

What running a program directly requires

Running a LIHEAP program directly still means following program rules. The Navajo Nation program pays part of a heating, cooling or weatherizing cost for low income Navajo households on the reservation in New Mexico, Arizona or Utah, if income is at or below 60% of the state median income, or automatically if the household already receives Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program or Supplemental Security Income. The benefit is paid straight to the utility or fuel vendor, not the household. The Cherokee Nation program covers wood, natural gas, propane, electric and kerosene heating, limits summer cooling to elderly and disabled households when funds allow, and runs crisis help from January into the middle of February. Both give priority to a household with a member aged 60 or older or with a disability.

What happens when a tribe cannot keep its own program open

149 is a count of tribes holding a direct grant relationship with the federal government, not a guarantee every one of them kept a normal application cycle open the whole year. The Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe, a tribal LIHEAP grantee in Massachusetts, said a federal funding lapse and staff reductions at the United States Department of Health and Human Services slowed the processing of LIHEAP funds this year, so the tribe stopped taking new applications and told members to apply through the Massachusetts state run Home Energy Assistance Program instead. The announcement is dated December 31, 2025, inside the same fiscal year 2026 the 149 tribe count describes.