HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) — Jacqueline Chapman is a retired school aide who lives off a $630 monthly Social Security check. She was getting over the loss of the federal government. Benefits of food aid She learned that the assistance she was receiving to heat her Philadelphia apartment could also be at risk.
“I feel like we’re living in scary times. It’s not easy to rest when you know you have things to do with limited accounts, limited funds. There’s not much you can do,” said Chapman, 74.
Chapman relies on the $4.1 billion Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program, which helps millions of low-income households pay for heating and cooling their homes.
As temperatures begin to drop in areas across the country, some states are warning that funding for the program is being delayed. federal government shutdowncurrently in its 5th week.
The expected delays mean most of the 5.9 million households eligible for federally funded heating and cooling assistance programs will Struggling with sudden postponement of advantage Through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), approximately 1 in 8 Americans receives help purchasing groceries. money is running out So are other safety net programs, and energy prices are skyrocketing.
“If we don’t solve this problem, even temporarily, the impact on many poor families across the country will be severe,” said Mark Wolf, the group’s executive director. National Energy Support Directors Associationrepresents the state director of the program. The organization, commonly referred to as LIHEAP, serves all 50 states, the District of Columbia, U.S. territories, and federally recognized tribes.
“These are important income supports, but at the same time they could be heading toward a cliff,” Wolf said. “And we can’t pinpoint a time in recent history when something similar happened.”
States warn applicants about funding delays
Founded in 1981, LIHEAP helps families defray the cost of utilities and fuel delivered to their homes (such as household heating oil). It has had bipartisan Congressional support for decades.
The state administers the program. They receive an annual allocation of federal funds based on a formula that primarily takes into account the state’s weather patterns, energy costs and low-income population data.
Congress was expected to fund LIHEAP in the budget year that begins Oct. 1, although President Donald Trump proposed zero funding for the program in his budget proposal. But states have not yet received any new allocations because Congress has not yet passed a full 2026 spending bill.
Some states, including Kansas, Pennsylvania, New York, and Minnesota, have announced that their LIHEAP programs have been delayed due to the government shutdown.
In Pennsylvania, Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro’s administration said it would not be able to cover more than $200 million in federal LIHEAP subsidies that it had hoped would help pay heating bills for about 300,000 low-income households. It does not expect payments to be made until at least December, rather than the usual November.
Minnesota’s Energy Assistance Program is processing applications, but the state’s Commerce Department said federal LIHEAP dollars will likely be delayed by a month. The agency does not plan to pay heating costs to beneficiaries until the shutdown ends.
“This delay could have serious implications as temperatures begin to drop,” the agency said. The program serves 120,000 households, including both homeowners and renters, including many seniors, young children, and people with disabilities.
The organization that helps run LIHEAP says Connecticut has enough money to pay heating bills through at least the end of November or December. But the program faces uncertainty if the shutdown continues. Connecticut lawmakers are considering temporarily covering the cost with reserves in the state budget.
“As we move into the second half of the heating season, conditions will become even more dangerous for those who need these resources,” said Rhonda Evans, executive director of the Connecticut Community Action Association. Last year, more than 100,000 households were served.
A spokesperson for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, which oversees the aid program, blamed Congressional Democrats for the federal government shutdown and delays in LIHEAP payments, and said the Trump administration was fully committed to reopening the government.
“Once government reopens, ACF will move quickly to administer the annual award,” the spokesperson said, referring to the Office of Children and Families, an agency within HHS. The spokesperson did not directly answer whether the timing could be affected by the government’s previous decisions. Firefighters running the LIHEAP program.
Wolf, whose group represents state program directors, expects it could be delayed to January. He noted there are questions about who will approve each state’s program plan and how funds will be released when they become available.
“If you lay off staff, things just stall,” he says.
Low-income households face increasing obstacles
Chapman, a retired school aide, may be eligible for a program to help her gas utility avoid power outages this winter. However, the approximately 9% of LIHEAP recipients who rely on deliverable fuels such as kerosene, kerosene, propane, and wood pellets typically do not have such protections.
Wolf said electric and natural gas companies are typically regulated by states and are sometimes told not to lock people out while they wait for states to receive their distribution of LIHEAP funds. But it’s different when it involves small oil and propane companies, a common fuel in the Northeast.
“If you’re a heating oil dealer, we can’t say to that dealer, ‘Look, keep supplying heating oil to low-income customers because you might get your money back,'” Wolf said.
Mark Bain, 67, who lives in Bloomfield, Conn., with his son, a student at the University of Connecticut, began receiving financial assistance for his household heating oil needs three years ago.
“I remember that first winter before I found out about this program, I was hopeless. I was breathing gas,” Baines said. He is retired and relies on income from Social Security and a small pension. “I was calling social services to see what I could do.”
He is eligible for $500 in aid this year, but his oil tank is half full and he can’t ask for more until it’s almost empty. By that point, he hopes there will be enough federal funding left to fill it. It usually takes three deliveries to get through the winter.
Baines said he could “get by” even if he doesn’t receive aid this year.
“I’d turn the heat down to about 62 degrees, throw an extra blanket over myself, and get through it,” he says.
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Levy reported from Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. Associated Press writers Steve Karnowski in Minneapolis, John Hanna in Topeka, Kansas, and Jack Duras in Bismarck, North Dakota, contributed to this report.
