Norton Calls for Action to Address Home Heating Crisis for D.C. Residents (11/29/07)
Norton Calls for Urgent Action to Address Home Heating Crisis for D.C. Residents and Other Americans
November 29, 2007
Washington, DC-The Office of Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) today released her letter to U.S. Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Mike Leavitt, calling for a return to last year's eligibility standards for a federal program that helps low income people pay home heating bills because a new maximum income formula has resulted in a dramatic drop in qualified participants in several jurisdictions, most dramatically in the District of Columbia. The reduction in eligibility for the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) was caused by a new formula that went into effect October 1st, the start of the new fiscal year, and unfortunately, the start of the home heating season. The District, for example, will experience a 23 percent drop in eligible clients in one year. Eight states will see reductions in recipients of more than 5 percent.
Norton said that she was astonished to learn that people who would normally qualify for such assistance were now at greater risk of losing benefits as a result of the new calculation that uses data from the American Community Survey instead of the Census Bureau. She said that Congress was forewarned and well aware that the rise in heating oil prices would lead to a new crisis for many Americans. Now this "cruel result" from a change in LIHEAP threatens to make matters far worse. The Congresswoman said that she believes that bringing this crisis to Secretary Leavitt's urgent attention should get the needed relief at a time when people are most vulnerable. However, Norton said she would seek a congressional solution if HHS does not take action quickly.
The full text of Norton's letter follows.
November 29, 2007
Secretary Mike Leavitt
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
Dear Secretary Leavitt:
I am writing to express our concerns about the dramatic change in the maximum income standards that the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is applying to eligibility for our FY 2008 Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP). In particular, the use of a new data source-the American Community Survey (ACS)-for determining maximum LIHEAP eligibility levels in states will reduce eligibility in the District of Columbia by 23 percent.
An analysis prepared for the National Energy Assistance Directors Association (NEADA) (attached/enclosed) shows that many smaller states, including the District Columbia for these purposes, were estimated by the Census Bureau to have substantially lower median incomes than were computed previously. Our city's change was by far the greatest, estimated to decline 23 percent in one year, but eight states also were shown with declines of more than 5 percent. All these states were relatively small.
This estimated decline has been translated by HHS staff into a 23 percent reduction in maximum eligibility for our LIHEAP program. Consequently, many of our FY 2007 LIHEAP beneficiaries will be made ineligible with scant notice just as the heating season is beginning and the need for the funds the greatest. This cruel result was clearly not intended by Congress or the Department of Health and Human Services and is made all the more so pressing today when escalating home heating costs are predicted to be unmanageable for many middle income Americans.
Further analysis shows that other agencies have recognized this issue, and have adjusted for it. For example, the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) issues median family income (MFI) guidelines each year for eligibility for housing subsidies. Seeing the discontinuities, the agency has permitted jurisdictions shown with reductions to maintain their previous year levels. The text of the HUD guidance follows:
HUD understands that the conversion from 2000 Census based MFI's to ACS-based MFI's and the associated decline in MFI estimates will be a difficult one. HUD will continue to hold income limits at previous year's levels in areas where median family income estimates are lower in FY2007 than in FY2006, and will continue to do so in future years in areas where this proves necessary.
The NEADA analysis shows that for all these nine most affected jurisdictions, the following year's median income estimates show increases back toward approximately the same levels as were published for the FY 2007 LIHEAP program.
I am urgently requesting that you take action to assure the necessary adjustment to maintain the current LIHEAP client base in the District of Columbia. I would greatly appreciate your earliest reply.
Sincerely,
Eleanor Holmes Norton