08/27/2024 | Press release | Distributed by Public on 08/27/2024 02:29
Another barrier for eligible households is the application process itself. Under federal law, states that receive LIHEAP grants from ACF have wide latitude to define eligibility beyond criteria that are related to income. In New York State, for example, households without an adult over the age of 60 or a child under six cannot apply for cooling benefits without documentation of medical necessity. This kind of documentation can be difficult to obtain for applicants who don't have ready access to health care.
As we learned after the report was finalized, some local LIHEAP providers don't even follow their own state's eligibility requirements, not to mention federal law. The Neighborhood Legal Services of Los Angeles County recently discoveredthat some providers in the county are wrongly denying benefits to households with qualified noncitizensand to applicants who fail to provide a requested-but not required-Social Security number.
The NRDC and WE ACT report has four main recommendations:
Access to affordable cooling at home isn't a luxury-it's a matter of life or deathfor the most vulnerable among us. This includes older adultswith chronic illnesses, low-wage workerswho spend their days in the heat, and Black residents of neighborhoods that bear the ongoing scars of racist practices and policies such as disinvestmentand redlining. Low-income households shouldn't be forced to skip meals, forgo new shoesfor their growing children, or take on predatory loanswith triple-digit interest rates to keep themselves safe from the heat.
Congress should act now to ensure LIHEAP can truly be a lifeline for low-income households in our rapidly warming climate.