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For Immediate Release:
February 14, 2007
Contact: Frank Sobrino, Press Secretary
O: (212) 669-4193
Gotbaum Calls for City’s Fair
Share of Heating Aid
Public Advocate Betsy Gotbaum is calling
on the State to end years of inequitable distribution of home
heating aid to New York City’s low-income families. While
the city is home to 54 percent of the state’s population
living below the poverty level, it received only about 18 percent
of Home Energy Assistance Program dollars allocated by the State
last year.
As a result, the city was shortchanged
approximately $100 million in HEAP monies.
“HEAP is designed to help low-income
families pay for heat,” Gotbaum said. “Most of the
low-income families in the State are here. So why don’t
we receive most of the money? There’s no good reason at
all. It’s time we get our fair share of this assistance.”
Every winter, thousands of New York
City residents with limited resources struggle to stay warm in
apartments that are not adequately heated. The Department of Housing
Preservation and Development (HPD) received more than 124,000
heat and hot water complaints and issued more than 11,300 heat
and hot water violations in fiscal year 2006.
When a low-income person lives in
an inadequately heated home they may be forced to skimp on food
and medicine in order to purchase space heaters, or they may attempt
to heat their homes with their ovens, risking carbon monoxide
poisoning or fire. Over the years the New York State Office of
Temporary and Disability Assistance has directed the bulk of HEAP
funding to upstate households.
Low-income homeowners and tenants
who pay directly for heat are currently eligible for a minimum
benefit of $165. However, tenants who pay for heat as a portion
of their rent and are eligible for HEAP receive only $40 or $50
annually.
As fuel costs increased by 22.8 percent
this winter, building owners were allowed to pass the increased
costs to their tenants. Yet HEAP benefits have remained essentially
flat, further straining the resources of low-income tenants. To
address the funding inequity for renters, Gotbaum is calling on
the State to raise the minimum benefit for renters to $165, matching
the minimum provided to homeowners.
“Renters pay just as much for
heat as homeowners and they’re just as likely to face a
heating crisis,” Gotbaum said. “The extra money would
go a long way towards keeping their families warm in winter.”
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