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University of Wisconsin–Madison
Poverty-related issues in the news, from the Institute for Research on Poverty

Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program

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  • Heating assistance in jeopardy for low-income families, By Oralandar Brand-Williams and Karen Bouffard, October 1, 2011, Detroit News: “As thousands of state welfare recipients are cut off from cash assistance today, another program to help low-income families pay winter heating bills is in jeopardy. Money for the Low Income Energy Efficiency Fund is tied up in a legal fight challenging the authority of the Michigan Public Service Commission to distribute money to local programs. The news came on the same day a group announced a legal challenge to a new state rule cutting off cash assistance after 48 months. A hearing in federal court is scheduled for Tuesday. The PSC collects the heating aid money from utility companies that funnel a portion of the rate charged to customers into the fund. Agencies such as the Heat and Warmth Fund then draw from the pot of money, which totals about $90 million annually, to help people with their heating and utility bills. Today is the first day of the new fiscal year when the local agencies normally tap the fund, but no money will be available until the court decides the issue…”
  • Home heating program may see deep cuts, By Pamela M. Prah, October 3, 2011, Stateline.org: “With Congress in a cutting mood, states are worried they may have to deny home heating help to as many as 2 million families this winter. ‘We’re working against a worst-case scenario and we are very worried,’ Richard Moffi, fuel assistance program chief for the Vermont Department for Children and Families, told The Associated Press. Congress has yet to decide on the funding level for the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) for the coming winter, but ‘all signs point to at least a $1.1 billion cut,” says Mark Wolfe, executive director, of the National Energy Assistance Directors’ Association, an organization that represents state LIHEAP directors. LIHEAP is a federal block grant program that provides grants to states to help low-income families pay their heating and cooling bills…”