It seems that every year there is a struggle to avoid draconian cuts in the federal home heating fuel assistance appropriation so vital to low-income residents of the Northeast and elsewhere.   Again this year – thousands of poor people across the Northeast are facing a difficult winter with substantially less home heating aid coming from the federal government. Each year the threshhold for funding is lower and individual allotments barely provide for a tank of oil. LIHEAP – the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program that served nearly nine million households last year faces a cut of $1billion from an already reduced pool of money.

Locally Community Teamwork, Inc (CTI) the regional community action agency processed over 14,000 applications for LIHEAP – determining over 12,400 applicants eligible for this critical heating subsidy.

Read this Associated Press (AP) story “Northeast cuts heating aid to the poor” for more information.