“We’re stuck right now,’’ said John Drew, president of Action for Boston Community Development Inc., a nonprofit that serves more than 90,000 low-income residents in the Boston area.
The Department of Health and Human Services released more than $1.7 billion for the government’s Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program last week, including the allocation for Massachusetts. But by yesterday the state had not received an award letter that would trigger its ability to tap the money, said Mary-Leah Assad, a spokeswoman with the state Department of Housing and CommunityDevelopment.
“Once the official allocation has been received, DHCD will work quickly … to ensure that households in need will be served,’’ Assad said.
Kenneth Wolfe, a spokesman for the federal Health and Human Services Department, said Massachusetts officials would probably receive a letter today.
The delay - even if short-lived - is just the latest challenge facing the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program, or LIHEAP, which has had funding cut even as demand jumps in the face of a weak economy and high unemployment. In past years, the program received as much as $5.1 billion, but last fiscal year received about $4.7 billion.
This year, with pressure to rein in mounting deficits, the Obama administration has proposed slashing the heating assistance program by nearly half, to $2.6 billion.
Yesterday, US Representative Ed Markey and Senator John F. Kerry called for aid to be made available to families quickly.
“We must provide some stability and assurance to needy families,’’ Kerry wrote in a letter to Senate majority leader Harry Reid. “By distributing money to the states in dribs and drabs it puts oil deliveries at risk because companies don’t know they will get paid.’’
In Massachusetts, 250,000 households received heating assistance last year, according to Action for Boston Community Development. That number is expected to grow this year.
Yesterday, people lined up at the agency to apply for heating assistance, even though assistance would likely be delayed. Osrick Ellis, a 64-year-old Boston resident and first-time applicant, said he asked for help after being laid off from his job at Filene’s Basement.
While he has found part-time work, he makes half his previous earnings and expects to struggle to pay heating-oil bills - amounting to $2,000 to $3,000 each season. Ellis said, he and his wife use space heaters and wear sweaters, socks, and hats inside to keep warm.
Cynthia Burgos, 26, of Boston, earns $8 an hour working in retail. She conserves by setting her thermostat between 60 and 64 degrees, weather-stripping windows and doors, and keeping her kids bundled up. Still, she said, when she opens her natural gas bill, “It kills me every time.’’
Erin Ailworth can be reached at eailworth@globe.com. Follow her on Twitter @ailworth.
