Shutdown imperils millions in heating assistance for Long Islanders as winter approaches

WASHINGTON — New funding for a program that last winter provided $370 million to help  elderly and low-income New Yorkers keep their homes warm — with nearly $25 million going to Long Islanders — is in limbo this year because of the U.S. government shutdown.

This uncertainty comes as seniors and other vulnerable New Yorkers already face an energy affordability crisis, with over 1.2 million households statewide at least 60 days behind on their gas and electric utility bills, owing close to $2 billion. 

But with the federal government locked in its shutdown, no federal funds for New York’s Home Energy Assistance Program have yet been allocated for its 2025-26 year. 

"This federal funding is especially important at a time when rising energy costs continue to threaten the household budgets of many New Yorkers — and as temperatures begin to drop across the state," Anthony Farmer, a spokesman for New York’s Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance, said in a statement Wednesday.

Last year, about $20 million in heating help went to Suffolk County households, and $4.8 million to Nassau County. The exact number of households getting help were not immediately available, because there are both regular benefits and emergency benefits, with some people getting both. 

Typically, it’s in early November when OTDA opens the application process for the heating help, ahead of the coming winter, and it continues until the funds are exhausted. But with just two weeks to go, OTDA is still awaiting guidance from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Administration for Children and Families on how to proceed.

The federal program, LIHEAP, usually releases funding to states multiple times a year based on complex calculations. Right now, there are no carry-over funds in the New York program that are unused and available.

LIHEAP overall has been under ongoing threat from President Donald Trump and his administration. Trump fired LIHEAP staff in the spring and initially proposed eliminating funding for the program entirely in fiscal year 2026.

But congressional support for the program has led to expectations it will be funded, even while final levels remain unclear. In July, the Senate Appropriations Committee approved its version of a bill with more than $4 billion nationally — more than the amount provided during the last fiscal year. But there’s no sign yet that the money — including any portion to New York — will ever be allocated.

Requests on Wednesday to spokesmen for both the House and Senate appropriations committees on whether the two chambers’ ongoing negotiations have reached a final dollar figure in a two-chamber deal for LIHEAP were not answered. The Senate bill had called for the distribution of the money to begin in November.

But the federal government remains locked in what on Thursday will be a 16th day of closure, dating from the Oct. 1 start of a new federal fiscal year. Since then, congressional Republicans and Democrats haven’t even agreed on passage of a stopgap, seven-week version to temporarily keep funds flowing at current levels.

Bill Ferris, AARP’s New York legislative representative, said the uncertainty over the heating help comes amid an ongoing energy affordability crisis in New York State.

Ferris said AARP will turn to Gov. Kathy Hochul to help fill in any funding gaps that might occur. "HEAP in New York is too important not to be fully funded," Ferris said.