Collins and Snowe Successful in Releasing LIHEAP Funds for Maine
By Dana Razzano
WASHINGTON – For Maine residents waiting to receive winter heating assistance, the wait is nearly over. U.S. Sens. Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins announced Wednesday the release of $16 million for Maine’s Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP), which will allow for the processing of the 20,000 applications piling up since July.
“Releasing the money now is important,” said Collins. “I heard from a lot of agencies in Maine that they were very short on funding.”
Snowe said the release of these fund provides low income families with reassurance that they will receive necessary help with their winter heating costs.
“[LIHEAP] is a vital necessity to low income families,” said Snowe. “I hesitate to imagine the kinds of choices these families would have to make without the assistance of this program.”
Collins and Snowe both agreed that it makes more economic sense for funds to be released now, rather than at the height of the winter, when fuel costs are typically much higher. With cold nights starting as early as October, heating needs have already begun and the sooner funds are released, the sooner families can fill their fuel tanks, said Snowe.
Of the more than 518,000 households in Maine, approximately 12 percent applied for energy assistance last year. The state is anticipating a similar demand for assistance this winter, said Jo-Ann Choate, program manager of the LIHEAP with the Maine State Housing Authority.
“I was delighted to have the money released to get the process moving,” said Choate. The agency was trying its best to stretch out the funds they had already available prior to the release of the $16 million, she said.
Choate stressed that the funds “are not an addition” to what Maine’s LIHEAP was scheduled to receive, but rather a release of the funds already allotted to them. Households this winter will likely see a reduction in the benefit they receive, down to $370 from $439 last winter, she said. Last winter, the program benefited from the release of several emergency release allocations during the heating season, increasing the amount of assistance the program could offer each household, Choate said. This year, no emergency funds have yet been released.
Though Snowe worked to create LIHEAP in the late ’70s, she said “there has never been enough money” to cover the heating costs for the 5.6 million families across the nation that are eligible for assistance under the program.
“We are reaching just a modest percentage of those eligible,” Snowe said. “And depending on the cost of home heating, it doesn’t go very far.”
Snowe said though there isn’t broad support politically for the program, she is dedicated to press for additional funding for LIHEAP. “I’ve been fighting to make sure LIHEAP continues and it is a viable program for a long time to come,” she said.
Applications in Maine have been filed since July and the assistance program is scheduled to accept applications throughout the winter, said Choate. LIHEAP is currently processing applications for those who are most “hypothermia susceptible,” including the elderly and infants of low-income families.
Choate said she thinks the release of funds has come a “little late,” as she would prefer funds to be released earlier to aid with processing applications sooner. Applications processed today would most likely result in households seeing a benefit in the middle of November, she said.
“This is a very important program in Maine because we have a lot of low income families and low income elders who are struggling to meet home heating costs throughout the long winter,” said Collins.
One Maine resident testified before a Senate committee last year and stated that without the assistance of LIHEAP she would literally have to choose between buying groceries and paying for heat.
“No one should have to do that,” Collins said.
