BUDGET SHORTFALL SEEN FOR HEATING ASSISTANCE

The $2 billion federal program that helps low-income residents pay their heating bills faces a financial crunch because of higher energy costs and the colder-than-usual winter forecast in New England.

The Bush administration already has asked Congress for an additional $112 million for the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP), but New England legislators say that 5.6 percent increase would not be enough. Supporters of greater funding are painting a dire picture of the approaching winter, warning that families will have to make tough choices between food, medicine, and heat unless Congress adds between $300 million and $1 billion.

As with most federal programs, the heating assistance will remain at last year's levels until Congress returns to pass stalled spending bills after the election…. heating-oil prices have risen to the highest in a decade in Massachusetts, about $2 a gallon, increasing the average home-heating bill by $520. Natural gas prices have surged about 50 percent, partly because of reduced production in the United States.

….Mark Wolfe, executive director of the National Energy Assistance Directors Association, likened the approaching New England winter to the four hurricanes that struck Florida this season, for which Congress appropriated $11.5 billion. ''This is worse than the hurricane if you're living in Boston," he said. ''For an average family making $35,000 a year, they still have to buy gas for the car and they've got to buy heating oil. Your lifestyle hasn't changed, and suddenly you have $1,000 less in your pocket."

New England is particularly dependent on the program because the region consumes 75 percent of the nation's heating oil. The New England Council estimates that 314,000 households in the region, and 4.9 million nationwide, received federal assistance last winter. Energy bills absorbed 14 percent of incomes of aid recipients, compared with 3 percent for households with income above 150 percent of the poverty level.

In recent years, the federal program, which also helps families make their homes more energy-efficient, has served a fraction of the 30 million households eligible for assistance, either because of scaled-back outreach or limited funding.

Payments to Massachusetts residents will max out at $527, but if more money becomes available through Congress, that figure could be increased to at least $700, said Beth Bresnahan, spokeswoman for the Department of Housing and Community Development, which manages the state's share of federal home heating assistance.

''Five hundred twenty-seven dollars won't get you too far in a heating season," she said.

-Abridged from “ Budget Shortfall Seen For Heating Assistance New England Legislators Seek More Us Funding” By Glenn Maffei, States News Service, October 25, 2004.