Amid federal cuts, program that helps KY poor pay for heat now in peril
Staff cuts at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services could put a program that helps more than 150,000 poor and elderly Kentuckians pay for heat and air conditioning in jeopardy.
All staff at the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program, commonly called LIHEAP, were terminated Tuesday as part of a broader cut of nearly 10,000 staffers at the federal department that oversees much of the country’s health and social service programs, multiple national outlets reported.
With no one to administer the funds states rely on to help poorer residents pay heating and cooling bills, officials don’t know if the program will continue. There has been no communication between the federal government and the entities that oversee the program about whether it will continue.
In 2023, the program served 7.1 million households across the country, according to federal data.
The LIHEAP program is one of several federal programs that face an uncertain future after the federal government axed staff in multiple agencies that oversee federal programs that states and local governments rely on. Cuts at the National Weather Service have recently hindered that agencies’ abilities to confirm tornadoes in the most recent round of storms to hit Kentucky and other parts of the country this week.
The Kentucky Cabinet for Health and Family Services, which receives federal grant money for LIHEAP, reported that at least 150,000 Kentucky households have received help through the program, according to its website.
Those who administer the funds said Thursday they have received no guidance from federal officials about the fate of the more-than-50-year-old program. In Kentucky, the money is awarded to the cabinet but is administered by 23 Community Action Councils, which oversee many anti-poverty programs.
It’s not immediately known how much money all 23 Community Action Councils receive in LIHEAP funding. Cabinet officials did not immediately respond to emails about the programs.
The Community Action Council in Central Kentucky administers Fayette, Bourbon, Nicholas and Harrison counties’ LIHEAP program. It received $2.26 million to operate the program this fiscal year, which ends July 1. Last year, the program received nearly 9,000 applications, said Melissa Tibbs, director of the office of sustainability for the Community Action Council.
The program helps reduce homelessness by helping people remain in their homes, Tibbs said.
Tibbs said they have received no notification that the program is being scuttled.
“LIHEAP is a proven, results-driven program that enables us to prevent energy utility shutoffs and, in many cases, evictions for thousands of hardworking Kentuckians, including vulnerable neighbors like seniors on fixed incomes,” Tibbs said. “ If funding were reduced or eliminated, Community Action Council would lose the resources needed to assist thousands of households each year, which would be devastating, particularly as the cost of other basic necessities continues to rise.”
Donna Pace, executive director of the Harlan County Community Action Council, said the program helps between 3,000 and 4,000 households in Harlan County each year. Pace said the only information she has received about the future of the program is what she has read in media reports.
The program is critical in high-poverty areas like Harlan County, which also has higher-than-average power bills. The housing stock is also older and poorly insulated, further driving up heating and cooling costs, Pace said.
Many of the people who receive the money are elderly. They have to juggle medical and prescription drug costs and utility bills on fixed incomes, Pace said.
“It is hard for them to manage what limited resources they have,” Pace said. “There are so many people helped in Kentucky through this program.”
The federal program started in 1974.
Kentuckians who qualify must make less than 130% of the federal poverty level — for a family of one, that’s less than $20,815. For a family of four, it’s less than $35,455.
