HEAP1 Duggan from Democracywise on Vimeo.
[Anchor intro: Some local families are facing the risk of less help with their winter heating bills as the federal government cuts spending. The families get help through a program called the Home Energy Assistance Program — or HEAP. Democracywise reporter Heather Duggan tells us about the plight for those who depend on HEAP.]
Rayschel Johnson is a single working mom of four. Last year, she and her children lived in a big, poorly insulated house and her heating bills were more than $400 a month. Now she and her kids live in subsidized housing on Syracuse’s East Side, partly in hopes of lowering their heating costs. For 15 years, she and her family have had help paying their energy bill through HEAP.
“Getting their help actually is the like best thing for us. Especially for parents that have children, parents that are having a hard time finding jobs, having a hard time paying their bills. HEAP has been very helpful.”
(Rayshel Johnson, HEAP client)
HEAP is a federally funded program that helps low- to middle-income people and families pay their heating bills. To be eligible for that help, the family income must be less than $4,094 a month for a family of four. Each winter, HEAP clients get a one-time subsidy to help cover their heating bills. The amount of the subsidy depends on the person’s income.
This year, New York state got $277 million from the federal government to run the program. That’s about a 42 percent decrease from last year. That cut worries state and local officials.
Governor David Paterson has written to President Barack Obama, asking for more Federal dollars to keep HEAP in New York in New York from closing early. Without more federal money, Paterson predicts that HEAP will run out six weeks into the winter season — during the second week of December.
And if the federal dollars run out? Marie Grace, the county coordinator for HEAP, is blunt about the consequences:
“Once we run out of money, the program has to close.”
(Marie Grace, HEAP Onondaga County Coordinator)
When HEAP runs out of money for the year, there is some emergency help available. But the money would be state and local funds, so there wouldn’t be as much to go around, Grace said. HEAP’s clients would feel that loss sharply.
“People are so thankful. Unlike the other programs, I get thank-you notes all the time.”
(Marie Grace, HEAP Onondaga County Coordinator)
No matter where the money comes from, Syracuse mother Rayshel Johnson is grateful. But, she says, it’s not enough to cover the entire cost of her heating bill. And that means she and her family have to live without things in the winter.
“The only thing that we can do is – put certain things on hold, that we used to be able to buy or pay for. Or that extra pack of meat that you used to be able to get — you’ve got to go without it now, just to make sure that we have heating.”
(Rayschel Johnson, client of HEAP)
Reporting for Democracywise, I’m Heather Duggan.
(Heather Duggan is a graduate student in broadcast and digital journalism.)
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