- More people apply for energy assistance to help with heating, By Julie Schmit, March 1, 2010, USA Today: “A record number of U.S. households are applying for help to pay home heating bills with 17 states fielding application requests that are up more than 20% from last year, the National Energy Assistance Directors’ Association says. Almost 9 million U.S. households are expected to need help paying winter energy bills. That’s up 15% from the record-setting 7.7 million last year, the association says. Next year may be even worse, when more than 10 million households are likely to need help, given continued weakness in the economy and the swelling ranks of the longer-term unemployed, says Mark Wolfe, the association’s executive director…”
- Requests for heat aid rise, By Aaron Nathans, March 2, 2010, News Journal: “Applications for heating assistance in Delaware are up 10 percent over last year, an increase that mirrors the record number of U.S. households applying for help to pay home heating bills. Seventeen states say requests are up more than 20 percent from last year, the National Energy Assistance Directors’ Association said. Almost 9 million U.S. households are expected to need help paying winter energy bills. That’s up 15 percent from the record-setting 7.7 million last year, the association said. Delaware had 16,446 applicants through the end of February, said Leslie Lee, management analyst for the Delaware Division of State Service Centers…”
Poverty-related issues in the news, from the Institute for Research on Poverty