An important program that helps hundreds of thousands of people in Michigan pay for heat and emergency bills is nearly out of money.
The federal Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program, or LIHEAP, helps people pay for their energy bills. Recipients get a one-time payment that goes directly to their utility, which reduces how much they have to pay for energy bills that year.
LIHEAP also funds the State Emergency Relief program, which can cover one-time payments for sudden hardships that threaten health and safety, like a hazard in the home, or a pending utility shutoff.
Because of the government shutdown, states haven't received their annual LIHEAP appropriation. Michigan has some holdover money from last year, but it's only enough to cover emergency relief for about three weeks.
"Without continued federal funding, many low-income families in Michigan will struggle to pay their home energy bills and may face shut-off conditions without additional supports," a spokesperson for the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services said in a statement. "LIHEAP funding plays a crucial role in helping low incomes families make ends meet and helps ensure that Michiganders are not forced to choose between paying their utility bill or putting food on the table."
More than 430,000 households in Michigan got assistance from LIHEAP last year.
Federal officials said the lapsed LIHEAP appropriations will be sent to states swiftly — as soon as the shutdown is over. They blamed the budget funding impasse on Democrats. Democrats say they won't vote on spending bills to reopen the government without a deal to keep Affordable Care Act subsidies in place. Without those subsidies, insurance rates will soon spike for tens of millions of Americans.
