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Jacqueline Chapman is a retired school aide who relies on her $630 monthly Social Security check. She was recouping the loss of her federal food assistance benefits when she found out how much assistance she got for heating. philadelphia The apartment may also be in danger.
“I feel like I’m living in scary times,” said Chapman, 74. “It’s not easy to relax when you know you have limited accounts, limited funds. There’s not much you can do.”
Chapman relies on the $4.1 billion Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program, which helps millions of low-income families pay for heating and cooling their homes.
The temperature has started falling in areas across the country. United States of AmericaSome states are warning that funding for the program is being delayed due to the federal government shutdown, now in its fifth week.
The anticipated delays come as most of the 5.9 million households served by the federally funded Heating and Cooling Assistance Program are grappling with the sudden suspension of benefits through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, which helps 1 in 8 Americans afford groceries. Wealth Other safety net programs are also being cut and energy prices are rising.
Mark Wolfe, executive director of the National Energy Assistance Directors Association, which represents state directors of the program, said, “If we don’t solve this problem, the impact on many of the country’s poorest families, even if it is temporary, is going to be profound.” 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 potentially headed toward the cliff at the same time,” Wolfe said. “And I can’t point to any time in recent history when we’ve seen that.”
States are warning applicants about delays in funding
LIHEAP, created in 1981, helps families cover the cost of utility bills or paying for fuel delivered to homes, such as home heating oil. It has enjoyed bipartisan congressional support for decades.
States administer the program. They receive an allocation of federal funds each year based on a formula that largely takes into account state weather patterns, energy costs and low-income population data.
While the President donald trump proposed zero funding for the program in its budget, it was estimated Congress LIHEAP will be funded for the budget year beginning October 1. But since Congress has not yet passed the full 2026 spending bill, states have not yet received their new allocations.
Some states, including Kansas, Pennsylvania, New York, and Minnesota, have announced that their LIHEAP programs are being delayed due to the government shutdown.
In Pennsylvania, the administration of Democratic Governor Josh Shapiro said it could not extend more than $200 million in federal LIHEAP aid, which was expected to help pay heating bills for about 300,000 low-income households. It is anticipated that payments will not be made until at least December, rather than November, as is customary.
Minnesota’s energy assistance program is processing applications but the state Department of Commerce said federal LIHEAP dollars are likely to be delayed by a month. The agency does not plan to pay recipients’ heating bills until the shutdown ends.
“As temperatures begin to drop, this delay could have a serious impact,” the agency said. The program serves 120,000 households, including both homeowners and renters, including many older adults, young children, and people with disabilities.
Connecticut has enough money to pay heating bills at least through the end of November or December, according to the group that helps administer LIHEAP. But the program faces uncertainty if the shutdown continues. Connecticut lawmakers are considering temporarily covering the cost from state budget reserves.
“The situation will become more dangerous for people who need those resources as we move later into the summer season,” said Rhonda Evans, executive director of the Connecticut Association for Community Action. More than 100,000 homes were served last year.
A spokeswoman for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, which oversees the aid program, blamed the delay in LIHEAP payments on the federal shutdown and congressional Democrats and said the Trump administration is committed to reopening the government.
“Once the government reopens, ACF will work quickly to administer the annual awards,” the spokesperson said, referring to the Administration for Children and Families, an agency within HHS. The spokesperson did not directly answer whether the timing might be affected by the administration’s earlier decision to lay off staff who run the LIHEAP program.
Wolff, from the group representing state program directors, estimates there could be a delay into January. He said there are questions over who will approve states’ program plans and how funds will be released when they become available.
“Once you lay off employees, things slow down,” he said.
Low-income families face increasing barriers
Chapman, a retired school assistant, may be eligible for a program through her gas utility to avoid being shut off this winter. But about 9% of LIHEAP recipients who rely on deliverable fuels such as heating oil, kerosene, propane and wood pellets typically do not have such protections.
Electric and natural gas companies are typically regulated by the state and may be asked not to lay off people while the state waits to receive its share of the LIHEAP money, Wolfe said. But it’s different when it involves a small oil or propane company, which are the more common fuels in the Northeast.
“If you’re a heating oil dealer, we can’t say to that dealer, ‘Look, continue to provide heating oil to your low-income customers on the off chance that you’ll get your money back,'” Wolfe said.
Mark Bain, 67, who lives in Bloomfield, Connecticut, with his son, a student at the University of Connecticut, started seeking financial assistance for his home heating oil needs three years ago.
“I remember the first winter before I learned about this program. I was desperate. I was angry,” said Bains, who is retired and relies on income from Social Security and a small annuity. “I was calling my social services people to find out what I could do.”
They have been approved $500 in aid this year, but they have half their tank of oil left and cannot ask for more until it is almost empty. By that time, he’s hoping there will be enough federal money left to fill it. He usually requires three deliveries to survive the winter.
Bains said he can ‘make ends meet’ if he doesn’t get help this year.
“I’ll turn the heat down to 62 (degrees) and put another blanket on, you know, just to get through it,” he said.
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Levy reported from Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. Associated Press writers Steve Karnowski in Minneapolis, John Hanna in Topeka, Kan., and Jack Dura in Bismarck, N.D., contributed to this report.