A popular program that helps low-income families pay for heating and cooling is on the chopping block.
President Trump鈥檚 calls for eliminating the federally-funded Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program, or LIHEAP. While the administration argues the program isn鈥檛 necessary, supporters warn the loss could imperil billions of dollars in aid to states and harm the health and safety of some of the most vulnerable households in the country.
In the Northeast, where winters can be brutal and energy prices are , state officials and consumer advocates say LIHEAP is for nearly 2 million families. Without it, they predict many people will be forced to make tough spending decisions about essentials such as food, housing and medication.
Lillie Bryan knowns this budgeting conundrum all too well. Just filling the oil tank that heats her small single-family home in Dorchester can cost as much as $1,500. It鈥檚 a sum she couldn鈥檛 afford without assistance from LIHEAP, or HEAP as the program is known in Massachusetts.
鈥淲e are so blessed to have the program,鈥� Bryan said.鈥娾�滻t鈥檚 a relief, it鈥檚 a comfort, knowing that you don鈥檛 have to worry about [staying warm] when October or November comes.鈥�
Sitting on the couch in her living room, Bryan, 77, said her budget is especially tight since she retired from her job at a Boston hotel a few years ago.
The prospect of losing this assistance is frightening, she added.
鈥淚t鈥檚 going to hurt a lot of families,鈥� she said. 鈥溾�夾nd at some point you just may find some of these people dead in their house from freezing.鈥�
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LIHEAP changed Bryan鈥檚 life so dramatically that she divides the last two decades into two distinct periods: before LIHEAP and after.
The 鈥渂efore times鈥� began in 2008 when she and her husband split up. She stayed in the home they鈥檇 bought together in 1979, when their kids were young. Suddenly living alone, Bryan said it didn鈥檛 take long to realize her paycheck wouldn鈥檛 cover groceries, the mortgage, the utility bills and all the unexpected costs of owning an older home.
鈥淚 remember laying in the bed one night, just scared and I just said, 鈥楲ord, what am I going to do? I don鈥檛 got no money. I don鈥檛 know who to call,鈥� 鈥� she said.
Bryan picked up part-time jobs on top of her full-time job at the hotel, but it still wasn鈥檛 enough. She cut back on groceries. And to avoid refilling her oil tank, she鈥檇 turn the heat way down and take cold showers. On really chilly days, she鈥檇 open the oven door to warm up the kitchen and living room 鈥� even though she knew it was a fire hazard.
鈥淵ou just did what you had to do to survive,鈥� she said.
Bryan also described obsessively checking the meter attached to her oil tank, trying to gauge exactly how much oil she had left when it read 鈥淓鈥� for empty, and how long it might last.
Her calculations weren鈥檛 always great, and on several nights she woke up shivering because the heat had gone off.
Then her oil tank started leaking. For a while, repairmen were able to patch up the cracks. But in February 2013, a fuel delivery worker told her he couldn鈥檛 legally fill her tank because the leak could cause an explosion.
It was like hitting financial rock bottom, she said.
Bryan considers herself a spiritual person, so in her mind, it鈥檚 no coincidence that around this time, a neighbor happened to get a flyer about heating assistance from a local organization and mentioned it to Bryan.
The organization, Action for Boston Community Development, or ABCD, replaced Bryan鈥檚 oil tank and furnace, and signed her up for LIHEAP. She hasn鈥檛 gone without heat since.
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Congress created LIHEAP in the wake of the energy crisis of the late 1970s, and the program has typically received strong bipartisan support because it assists residents in blue and red states. This past year, Congress allocated $4.1 billion for the program, and it served more than 6 million low-income households.
鈥溾�奓IHEAP is working. We rarely ever see anyone die in the winter now [from] being in an apartment that鈥檚 not heated,鈥� said Mark Wolfe, an energy economist and executive director of the National Energy Assistance Directors Association, a group that represents state agencies that administer LIHEAP.
But if the funding gets cut, he warned that may change.
鈥淔amilies have energy bills they can鈥檛 afford. They fall behind. And without help, they can be shut off from power,鈥� he said. 鈥淎nd if you鈥檙e shut off from power, it鈥檚 like being thrown back to the Middle Ages.鈥�
Wolfe called President Trump鈥檚 plan to defund LIHEAP 鈥渃ruel鈥� and said he disagrees with the administration鈥檚 rationale for eliminating it.
鈥淭hey didn鈥檛 say that they thought this was a good program but poorly run, or they thought this was a good program that could be improved,鈥� he said. 鈥淭hey just said, 鈥榃e don鈥檛 need it.鈥� 鈥�
The president鈥檚 budget proposal lays out a few reasons for ending LIHEAP. One concern is fraud and abuse highlighted in a . The report found at least 11,000 instances where deceased and incarcerated people were listed as household members, which increased the amount of LIHEAP funds the household was eligible to receive.
Advocates for LIHEAP argue the report is out of date and many of the issues it raised .
鈥溾�奍 was surprised they were bringing this up because it鈥檚 a 15-year-old report,鈥� Wolfe said. He added the problems stemmed from a time 鈥渂efore computerized systems were widely available, and when many of the forms were processed by paper and were hard to check.鈥�
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, which oversees LIHEAP, did not respond to a request for comment.
Critics of LIHEAP also argue the program isn鈥檛 necessary because most states already forbid utilities from shutting off heat during the winter when customers can鈥檛 pay their bills.
While this is true, the policy doesn鈥檛 protect people who use fuel oil or propane, said Jenifer Bosco, a lawyer with the National Consumer Law Center.
What鈥檚 more, she said, 鈥淛ust because you鈥檙e protected from being disconnected for a period of time, it doesn鈥檛 mean you have free utility service during that period of time. You still owe the money.鈥�
A from her organization found that as of last September, the average person in Massachusetts who was behind on utility bills owed $997. The average low-income customer who fell behind owed $1,471.
Trump has repeatedly promised to reduce energy costs, which would help all Americans, including LIHEAP recipients. Since taking office in January, his administration has taken several steps to make it easier for U.S. companies to drill for oil and gas. And while production so far has , Rachel Greszler, an economist with the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank, said she鈥檚 confident the strategy will work in time in the long run.
鈥淭he current administration is doing a lot to unleash American energy so that we will see the costs come down,鈥� she said.
To the extent that some families may still need help paying utility bills, Greszler said states, not the federal government, should fund assistance programs. If they have to pay for these programs, she said, they鈥檒l run them more efficiently.
鈥溾�奍 think that all the incentives are better aligned if it is financed by the level of government that is actually providing the benefits to the individuals,鈥� she said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 become incredibly dangerous that we just have this notion that it鈥檚 free money if it comes from the federal government.鈥�
But advocates say most states don鈥檛 have the money to simply take over the program. This past winter, Massachusetts received $144 million for LIHEAP.
鈥淚t would be impossible for the state to fully step in and make up the difference,鈥� said Ed Augustus, secretary of the state鈥檚 Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities.鈥娾�漎ou look at the budget that we鈥檙e dealing with now, keeping up with a lot of the programs that we primarily fund as a state.鈥�
Any cut to LIHEAP would also come as state officials grapple with .
Augustus used words like 鈥渇rustrating,鈥� 鈥渋nsane鈥� and 鈥渟hortsighted鈥� to describe the president鈥檚 plan to cut LIHEAP funding and the of all federal employees that distribute LIHEAP money to states.
鈥淭hey think they鈥檙e saving money by cutting the staff and by cutting the program, but this is going to end up costing a lot more than it saves,鈥� he said. 鈥溾�奍t鈥檚 going to result in seniors getting sicker when they don鈥檛 have to, and being hospitalized more frequently.鈥�
The fate of LIHEAP is now in Congress鈥� court. Lawmakers have until October 鈥� just when the cold weather begins to set in 鈥� to decide whether to accept the president鈥檚 proposal to end the program or continue funding it.
While many politicians and advocates in New England say they鈥檙e lobbying hard to save LIHEAP, the outcome is far from certain.
But with so many federal programs and grants being cut nationwide, Augustus said he worries LIHEAP won鈥檛 get the attention it needs to save it.
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