Freezing cold homes.
Broken pipes.
Fires or carbon monoxide deaths from families using unsafe heating sources.
On Thursday morning during a public hearing in Downtown Pittsburgh convened by the state Department of Human Services, about a dozen people told state officials that planned cuts to winter heating assistance could have terrible consequences.
In response to President Donald Trump’s budget proposal to eliminate the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP), which provides utility aid to the poor, a state plan preemptively proposes reducing program funds by 25 percent for the upcoming winter.
“I use LIHEAP. I use it in crisis. If it wasn’t for LIHEAP, most of the time, I wouldn’t have [any] gas,” said Lisa Gonzalez, 50, of the North Side, who testified that the program was critical to her. She said she is on a fixed income and has a medical condition.
Ms. Gonzalez and other speakers appeared for the two-hour hearing in the Gold Room of the Allegheny County Courthouse. The hearing is the third and final one before the state must submit its assistance plan to the federal government by Sept. 1. The first two hearings were in Philadelphia and Harrisburg.
Representatives from Peoples Natural Gas, Columbia Gas, and National Fuel also spoke about the importance of the program, as did social service providers who assist people applying for LIHEAP.
Last year, the minimum LIHEAP cash benefit was $200, an increase of $100 over the previous season. The state is proposing a $100 minimum for this year. The maximum crisis grant would be reduced from $500 to $400. The program would also end earlier than usual.
“The folks I see through this program are elderly, disabled, single parents and families who are trying really hard just to get by already,” said Aaron Miller, a technician for Climate Systems Heating and Cooling, who said he fixes or replaces dangerous or broken furnaces through the program.
“We’re all here today because LIHEAP saves lives,” said Andrew Shull, program administrator for weatherization and crisis at ACTION-Housing.
“This is an already austere program without the cuts. A single person who is over-income for LIHEAP makes $18,000 a year,” he said.
If federal cuts don’t materialize, the state will “restore benefits accordingly,” said Brain Whorl, director, division of federal programs and program management for the Pennsylvania Department of Human Services, who oversaw the hearing.
First Published: July 13, 2017, 6:36 p.m.
