Durbin Says Funds to Help Illinois Residents Heat Their Homes May Not Be Sufficient to Meet Need

Press Release

U.S. Senator Dick Durbin is urging President Bush to take immediate action to help low-income Americans by releasing the $101.5 million remaining in the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) fund. Durbin was joined by 37 Senate colleagues of both political parties in signing the letter to the President.

Illinois currently has less than $20 million in available funds remaining in its account and Illinois LIHEAP officials say that will not be sufficient to cover the remaining eligible applications received. Of the 800,000 Illinoisans eligible, only 350,000 have applied for help from LIHEAP and 300,000 are receiving assistance. According to recent reports, 12 states have now exhausted their funds for the regular winter heating season while several other states like Illinois are reporting that they are running dangerously low.

"With heating bills up 41 percent in the Midwest this winter, many people face the choice to heat or eat," Durbin said. "LIHEAP was created to assist our lowest-income families and seniors, but Illinois LIHEAP officials tell us they have serious concerns that remaining funds will not be enough to cover 50,000 Illinois applicants who have applied for payments. And with heating bills that cost the average Illinois family $1,200 to stay warm, the need is greater than ever. LIHEAP is severely under-funded and we have asked the President to release the money that has already been set aside for this program but not yet spent."

The Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) is a federally funded program which provides heating and cooling assistance to almost 5 million low-income households, including the working poor, those making the difficult transition from welfare to work, disabled persons, the elderly and families with young children. Assistance comes in the form of block grants to state programs that help eligible households pay for home energy costs. Often, those living in poverty and low-income seniors must choose between buying fuel to heat their homes and buying food for themselves and their families. Durbin noted that the program targets people who need help the most.

In Illinois, requests for government help to pay heating bills were up, over 40 percent in 2005. So far 344,700 Illinois residents have applied for LIHEAP assistance, 293,725 of whom have received assistance. In Illinois, several city offices are receiving dramatically more calls from people who cannot afford to pay their heating bills. Some offices report that seniors are forgoing purchasing their prescriptions or not buying food in order to attempt to pay the energy bill.

"Experts tell us that the top two underlying reasons for homelessness in America are inability to pay for rent and inability to pay for utilities," said Durbin. "The costs of not providing help to those who need it in our state and other states facing similar problems are far greater than the cost of adequately funding the LIHEAP program."

Last year, LIHEAP allowed the states to help about 5 million people out of an estimated 32 million eligible for assistance nationwide. As part of the energy bill signed into law last summer, Congress authorized $5.1 billion annually for the program for fiscal years 2005, 2006 and 2007. However, the final spending bill for fiscal 2006, which began in October, contained only $2.16 billion for the program despite attempts by Durbin and other Democrats to increase LIHEAP funding.

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