15. Eligibility of Public Housing Tenants for CARE/LIEE
In D.07-12-051, we directed the large IOUs to automatically qualify public housing tenants for CARE and LIEE, finding that they have already proven their low income status by qualifying for public housing.99 We acknowledged, however, that some Section 8 tenants might have incomes higher than the LIEE income levels, but did not resolve how the IOUs should treat such customers.100
To qualify for Section 8 housing assistance, a household must typically meet criteria set annually by the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). The HUD uses data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics to calculate the "Area Median Income" (Area MI) for each county. Income thresholds to qualify for public housing are, then, defined by reference to the Area MI. Extremely low income households are defined as ones that earn 30% of the Area MI or less. Very low income households can have income up to 50% of the Area MI, and low income households can earn up to 80% of the Area MI.
The county-by-county structure of these public housing programs does not align with California's statewide CARE and LIEE income requirements, and the IOUs have not been able to reach a consensus on how to address this problem.101 Although most or all extremely low income households qualify for LIEE and CARE, depending on county Area MI, low income and even very low income households may not qualify for CARE and LIEE.102
The discrepancy described above can be demonstrated using examples from particularly high-income counties. For instance, in Orange County a two-person household earning $59,500 still qualifies as "low income" under HUD criteria.103 In San Francisco County, a four-person household earning $90,500 can qualify as being low income, and a single-person household qualifies as "very low income" even if it earns $39,600 annually.104 Households with such high incomes, however, do not qualify for CARE or LIEE. It has been estimated that at least 10,481 households across the state receive housing vouchers or live in public housing but are "merely" classified as HUD low income households (and, hence, would probably not qualify for CARE/LIEE).105
Aligning public housing requirements with CARE and LIEE requirements is made even more difficult because the public housing recipients who do not qualify for CARE/LIEE are not evenly distributed across all of the IOUs' service territories.106 SDG&E, for instance, noted that their service territory had a significantly smaller number of public housing participants than other IOU's. Perhaps as a result of this disparity, SDG&E and SoCalGas have indicated a willingness to categorically enroll public housing and Section 8 participants in their service area into CARE and LIEE, but other IOUs have been unwilling to take this step.107
Each IOU should make a reasonable effort to differentiate between eligible and ineligible public housing residents for CARE and LIEE enrollment. Given the diverse county by county discrepancy, we will leave it to the IOUs' discretion how to do this in each of their service areas, but they shall not enroll ineligible customers in the programs.
99 "[T]enants of public housing should automatically qualify for LIEE programs."" D.07-12-051, p. 65. "The utilities should automatically qualify for CARE discounts those customers who live in public housing because they have already demonstrated to public officials their low income status." Id., OP 11.
100 "PG&E raises concerns that some tenants of Section 8 housing may have incomes that substantially exceed the income levels that would qualify customers for LIEE programs. It recommends the Commission consider ways to implement this idea in ways that promote consistent application of existing eligibility rules. We agree." D.07-12-051, p. 65, n.50.
101 Response of San Diego Gas and Electric Company to the Administrative Law Judge's Second Ruling Seeking Further Information from the Large Investor-Owned Utilities' 2009 - 2011 Low Income Energy Efficiency/CARE Applications, filed July 7, 2008, p. 12.
102 Response of Southern California Gas Company to the Administrative Law Judge's Second Ruling Seeking Further Information from the Large Investor-Owned Utilities' 2009 - 2001 Low Income Energy Efficiency/CARE Applications, filed July 7, 2008, pp. 10-11.
103 Figures taken from Fiscal Year 2008 Income Limits chart for California, available at http://www.huduser.org/Datasets/IL/IL08/ca_fy2008.pdf.
104 Id.
105 Response of San Diego Gas and Electric Company to the Administrative Law Judge's Second Ruling Seeking Further Information from the Large Investor-Owned Utilities' 2009 - 2011 Low Income Energy Efficiency/CARE Applications, filed July 7, 2008, p. 12.
106 Id. at 12-13.
107 Id.
