APRIL FIRST NOTICES
Brutal Winter and Delayed Fuel Assistance Funding Leave Boston Area Residents Facing Bills They Can’t Pay, Shutoff Notices After April 1st
(BOSTON, MA) – It’s the perfect storm: In a year when federal LIHEAP funding was reduced, the region’s been hit with deep freezes, fuel assistance applications are up, and energy prices rose, many Boston area residents who receive fuel assistance have depleted their benefits and face heating bills they can’t cover.??
Many who heat with gas and electric and have been unable to pay their bills face utility shutoffs after April 1st, when the winter protection moratorium ends.??
ABCD????????s home energy assistance programs, which include LIHEAP (Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program) serve more than 24,000 low income, elderly and disabled residents each year in Boston, Brookline, Newton, Malden, Medford, Everett, Melrose, Stoneham, Winchester and Woburn. Today, the health, safety and stability of our most vulnerable neighbors are at risk.
This year’s federal funding for Massachusetts was cut by $26 million from the previous fiscal year. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has failed to release the final FY 2018 authorized allocation – 10% of the funds – which would amount to upwards of $12 million.
“The HHS funding is critical. People are suffering, and we’re urging our allies, legislators and citizens alike, to call for these funds to be disbursed,” said ABCD President/CEO John J. Drew.
Boston area residents can find contact information for Massachusetts Senators Elizabeth Warren and Ed Markey, as well as their members of Congress, at govtrack.us.
“Every year, struggling families are forced to choose between heat, medicine, food and other essentials. Children huddle in bitter cold apartments, seniors and babies fall victim to hypothermia and worse. People get desperate and try to heat their homes with their ovens or unsafe space heaters. The situation is dire,” Drew said.
Along with reaching out to our Congressional delegation, is urging members of the Massachusetts House of Representatives and Senate to include $25 million in the next supplemental budget for fiscal 2018 to support LIHEAP.
Residents of Boston, Brookline and Newton with questions about fuel assistance can contact any ABCD Neighborhood Service Center or by call the ABCD Fuel Assistance Hotline at 617.357.6012.
Residents of Malden, Medford, Everett, Melrose, Stoneham, Winchester and Woburn may visit??ABCD at 18 Dartmouth Street in Malden or call 781.322.6284.
ABCD also offers qualifying families a comprehensive range of services to keep families warm including repair and replacement of inoperable or highly inefficient heading systems, utility discounts, weatherization, programs to improve energy conservation, and much more.