Shutdown threatens to delay home heat aid for millions

Jacqueline Chapman is a retired school aide who relies on a $630 monthly Social Security check to get by. She was navigating the loss of her federal food aid benefits when she learned the assistance she receives for heating her Philadelphia apartment may also be at risk.

- BY SUSAN HAIGH AND MARC LEVY

MARK BAIN of Connecticut started receiving financial assistance for his home heating oil three years ago.

(JESSICA HILL Associated Press)

"I feel like I'm living in scary times. It’s not easy to rest when you know you have things to do with limited accounts, limited funds. There isn’t too much you can do,” said Chapman, 74.

Chapman relies on the $4.1-billion Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program, which helps millions of households pay to heat and cool their homes.

With temperatures beginning to drop in areas across the United States, some states are warning that funding for the program is being delayed because of the federal government shutdown.

The anticipated delay comes as a majority of the 5.9 million households served by the federally funded heating and cooling assistance program are grappling with the sudden postponement of benefits through the Supplemental Nutrition Assist ance Program, or SNAP, which helps about 1 in 8 Americans buy groceries. Money is running out for other safety net programs as well, and energy prices are soaring.

“The impact, even if it’s temporary, on many of the nation’s poor families is going to be profound if we don’t solve this problem,” said Mark Wolfe, executive director of the National Energy Assistance Directors Assn., which represents state directors of the program. Commonly called LIHEAP, it serves all 50 states, the District of Columbia, U.S. territories and federally recognized tribes.

“These are important income supports that are all potentially heading toward a cliff at the same time,” Wolfe said. “And I can’t point to a similar time in recent history where we've had this.”

LIHEAP, created in 1981, assists families in covering utility bills or the cost of paying for fuels delivered to homes, such as home heating oil. It has received bipartisan congressional support for decades.