Massachusetts residents who can’t pay heating bills can still get help from the federal Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program — for now.
LIHEAP is one of many federal programs that have seen stalled funding as a result of the government shutdown. But Governor Maura Healey said Friday that the state still has $13 million in unused federal funds from last year’s program that it can use in the short-term.
“Our message to people experiencing a heating emergency right now is to continue to apply for assistance – we will do everything we can to keep our families warm,” Healey said in a written statement. “But we need the President and Congressional Republicans to do their job and get the government running again so people can continue to heat their homes.”
Ed Augustus, the state’s Secretary of Housing and Livable Communities told GBH News that the funds are likely enough to cover the program’s expenses in Massachusetts for the next four to five weeks.
“So we have a little buffer with the $13 million dollars that hopefully will allow us to meet the emergency needs of households for a number of weeks to come, depending on the need,” Augustus said. “And hopefully the federal government reopens and appropriates money so that we can then have a normal appropriation. Usually, it’s close to 160,000 households in Massachusetts that receive some kind of heating assistance during the winter months.”
Augustus said the LIHEAP uncertainty was part of what he called an “all out assault” on the federal safety net system by the Trump administration.
“Whether it be with heating assistance, whether it be with groceries, medical care, et cetera, we know all of those costs are up,” he said. “Combined with losing other benefits, that’s going to put a lot more pressure on families and seniors to make really difficult decisions between, you know, can they feed themselves every month? Can they meet their energy costs? Can they make their housing costs and their medical needs?”
The Trump administration had proposed eliminating the LIHEAP program, and fired the entire federal staff behind the program last spring. But the Republican-led House and Senate opted to continue the program in their budgets.
“So, the good news is there seems to be a consensus between the House and Senate that this is an important program that benefits a lot of very needy folks, and we just need to get that appropriation signed, so that the money can flow to those who need it,” Augustus said.
