NORWICH – With Old Man Winter just around the corner, Chenango County residents are being made aware of federal assistance available to help them heat their home during the coldest winter months.
Last week, the U.S. Department of Health an Human Services released more than $326 million in Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (HEAP) funding to New York State, which residents rely heavily upon to stay warm.
The mission of HEAP is to assist low-income households and seniors, particularly those with the lowest incomes, who spend a high proportion of their income on home energy. The program does this by providing monthly benefits to recipients in the cold winter months as well as the hot summer seasons, when energy costs are at their highest.
Specifically, the program provides relief for Upstate NY families and seniors whose incomes are 150 percent of the federal poverty level or lower. Roughly 40 percent of households served by HEAP include an adult aged 60 or over.
Federal HEAP funds are administered by the state to local social service departments, which in turn allocate it to qualified families.
The Chenango County DSS expects to see state allocations reach their office by mid November. HEAP allocations will be monitored by the state and continue throughout the winter until state officials determine there are no longer sufficient funds to keep it going.
Nearly 5,300 households in Chenango received a HEAP benefit in the 2014-2015 season. An additional 2,000 received a secondary emergency benefit, making up for $3.5 million spent on HEAP assistance in the county. Another $51,000 was issued for heating equipment repair or replacement for local residents.
In spite of the high demand and unpredictable weather, help is most always available throughout the winter, said Chenango County DSS Deputy Commissioner Daniel Auwarter.
“These are significant numbers and based on the fact that less than half of regular HEAP recipients received an emergency benefit, it is safe to say that the funding amounts provided by the state were adequate for our county’s needs,” he said.
Chenango County DSS has seen minimal discrepancy in demand for HEAP over the past several years. The department is planning for more of the same this year in terms of applications and allocations, Auwarter added.
“The HEAP program ran very efficiently last year and we plan on continuing these processes to best serve clients in a timely way, even with the significant workloads that we see in the first week of the program’s opening. That being said, we want the public to understand that we have a limited amount of staff assigned to HEAP functions because we still have other mandated programs to operate concurrently.”
DSS maintains 10 people in its office to process nearly 8,000 HEAP applications during the busiest weeks. Barring emergency heating situations such as imminent power or gas shut-off, less than a quarter tank of fuel or less than a 10-day supply of wood or coal, HEAP applicants are asked to refrain from calling DSS offices to check on the status of their application.
“Ironically, it is usually the phone traffic that is the biggest factor in how quickly we can process and approve an application, so we would ask people to avoid calling unless it is an emergency,” Auwarter said, explaining that DSS can not “move applicants to the front of the line.”
DSS reminds the public that an online option is available for HEAP applicants. Online applications can also speed the flow of the application process. Residents can access an online application by visiting www.mybenefits.ny.gov. For additional information, contact the Chenango County Department of Social Services at 337-1500.