Email: [email protected] Housing Alliance is an Application Agency for the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) and the Universal Assistance Fund (USF).USF helps make natural gas and electricity more affordable for low-income households by lowering these bills, in the form of a credit that appears on the bill itself. USF application period is year-round.LIHEAP helps low-income individuals and families meet home heating and medically-necessary cooling costs with a monetary benefit that varies by applicant income, household size, fuel type, and heating region. LIHEAP application period is October 1 to June 30 (subject to change).The heating benefit is typically provided as a two-party check in the name of the applicant and the fuel supplier, when the household is responsible to the fuel supplier for payment. The benefit is instead provided as a single-party check in the name of the benefit recipient when heat is included in rent. Heating benefit recipients may have their benefits directly forwarded to their utility company.The medically-necessary cooling assistance benefit is $200, and is applied as a direct credit to an active electric account, or issued as one-party checks.