How are the unemployed doing with their heating bills?

[G_j]

It's been real cold across the country.
And how are the growing number of homeless doing?

doesn't seem to be a lot of reporting on this..

[thunder rising]

1. Property taxes are coming due too. Watch for tax seizures next year

[Ron Green]

2. They're getting energy assistance if they have shut-off notices,

and there's still unemployment insurance left in most places. But the homeless are just suffering us usual.

[Coyote_Bandit]

7. There isn't sh*t

for lots of long-term unemployed folks. Not everybody qualified for those extended unemployment benefits. Some have been unemployed too long.

And not everybody qualifies for other forms of assistance. Lots of folks will lose nearly everything they have.

Qualification for many types of assistance is not solely income based. Many also consider the total assets of the individual/family/household.

[Ron Green]

11. The assests will be bled down until the person is eligible.

That's the perverse working of the System. The "safety net" doesn't really keep someone whe has accumulated assets from losing them in a crisis. It's just there to maintain the underclass.

[orbitalman]

3. This Deserves a Deeper Understanding...

just in case you get to this point. It would be nice to know what you have to look forward to, as well.

[Jamastiene]

4. I put my heating bill in the microwave for a few seconds to thaw it out before

forking over what would have been grocery money to pay it every month. I'm not sure how others in colder climates are coping. I hope they have some kind of help from the states.

[NNN0LHI]

5. People are freezing to death in Chicago

http://www.suntimes.com/news/metro/1969076,far-south-side-cold-weather-death-010110.article

Man found in Far South Side park is season's 4th cold death

January 1, 2010

SUN-TIMES MEDIA WIRE

The death of a man found in a park near his home on the Far South Side Thursday morning was the fourth confirmed cold-related fatality of the winter season in Cook County.

Raymond Baylock, 58, of 10610 S. Aberdeen Ave., was dead at the scene Thursday morning at Mount Vernon Park, 10700 S. Aberdeen Ave., according to the Cook County Medical Examiner's office.


An autopsy Thursday determined Baylock died of cold exposure and heart disease.

The season's other cold deaths include:

[frazzled]

9. Illinois (and other states) have strong heating assistance programs

LIHEAP is a state and federally funded energy assistance program for low income families, in which heating bill payments are made on behalf of households. This spring, Governor Quinn signed an executive order authorizing the LIHEAP program move from the Department of Healthcare and Family Services to the Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity.

Governor Quinn also signed legislation this spring to increase the LIHEAP eligibility level to households earning up to 200 percent of the federal poverty level. A single-person household can qualify with a monthly income of up to $1,354; a two-person household up to $1,821; and a family of four can earn up to $2,756. Benefits are paid directly to utilities on behalf of eligible households. The exception is households whose heating costs are included in their rent.

http://www.illinois.gov/PressReleases/ShowPressRelease.cfm?SubjectID=71&RecNum=7800
http://www.ildceo.net/dceo/Bureaus/LIHEAP/Illinois+LIHEAP/

The funds need to be increased at the federal level, so write your senators and congresspeople. Republicans keep blocking it.

It's a bit unfair of you to quote this story: every single year, in good times and bad, under Democratic administrations and Republican ones, people die when it is very cold. And when it is very hot. There will always be people who fall through the cracks. In a city of more than 4 million, 4 deaths from the cold is not unusual.

[Double T]

6. You will not hear about the ugly truths in an election year.

Here is some info:


http://www.endhomelessness.org/?gclid=CI6coZbDjZ8CFZAN5Qod-zvRMQ

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/02/nyregion/02laborers.html

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/34117457/ns/us_news-the_elkhart_project/

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/20/us/20utility.html?_r=1


Personally, I have lowered my thermostat to 52 degrees and layer up.

[Warpy]

8. They're suffering in silence

in 50 degree houses, wearing their coats and hats indoors, rolling up in electric blankets at the computer (if they've got either), and hoping they don't get sick.

Been there, done that, couldn't afford the damn t-shirt.

[NightWatcher]

10. we turned off the heat to save on utilities and I'm chopping and spliting a ton of wood

got to go today and get another truckload from the country.

it's actually quite nice to have a fire going all day long. I curled up with a good book, beer, and poked the fire for hours last night.

[Romulox]

12. People should consider giving to their local utility fund when they make donations...

Here's the one I support.

http://www.thawfund.org/

[G_j]

13. that would be very helpful

thank you

[jpak]

14. There $4.5+ billion in LIHEAP funds to help low inclome folks & the GOP always tried to defund it

http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/ocs/liheap/about/factsheet.html

Type of Grant: Mandatory Block Grant

Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance Number: 93.568

2009 Appropriation: Block Grant: $4.5 billion Contingency: $590 million

Legislative Authority:

Title XXVI of the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1981 (Public Law 97-35), as amended.

Purpose:

The mission of the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) is to assist low income households, particularly those with the lowest incomes that pay a high proportion of household income for home energy, primarily in meeting their immediate home energy needs.

Block Grant: States, territories, and Indian tribes and tribal organizations that wish to assist low income households in meeting the costs of home energy may apply for a LIHEAP block grant. Congress established the formula for distributing funds to States based on each State's weather and low income population. Home energy is defined by statute as a source of heating or cooling in residential dwellings.

Leveraging Incentive Program: The law authorizes supplemental LIHEAP funding for grantees that acquired non-federal leveraged resources for their LIHEAP programs in the preceding fiscal year.

Residential Energy Assistance Challenge Program (REACH): The law authorizes supplemental LIHEAP funding for grantees to receive competitive grants for implementation through local community-based agencies of innovative plans to help LIHEAP eligible households reduce their energy vulnerability.

Contingency Funds: The President may release these funds to assist with the home energy needs arising from an emergency situation. They may be allocated to one or more grantees, or to all grantees, based on criteria appropriate to the nature of the emergency. In the past, the President generally has released these funds in response to emergency situations arising from extreme weather conditions or energy price increases. Generally, funds have been distributed based on the degree to which specific States are affected by the weather or energy price situation that led to the release of contingency funds.

Target Population:

The authorization provides that an eligible household's income must not exceed the greater of 150 percent of the poverty level or 60 percent of the State median income (In FY 2009, 75 percent of the State median income). Grantees may not set income eligibility standards below 110 percent of the poverty level, but they may give priority to those households with the highest home energy costs or needs in relation to income.

Eligible Applicants:

All fifty States , the District of Columbia , five territories, and about 140 Tribes and Tribal organizations receive LIHEAP grants each year. State and federally recognized Tribes (including Alaska native villages) may apply for direct LIHEAP funding.