STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. \u2014 As winter prepares to chill New York, Gov. Kathy Hochul is offering a financial reprieve for heating costs through the Home Energy Assistance Program. <\/p>\n
\u201cAs temperatures have already begun to drop, it\u2019s disgraceful that the federal government took so long to provide federal funding for critical heating assistance for families across the state,\u201d Hochul said in a written statement. <\/p>\n
The program, or HEAP, got delayed a month due to the government shutdown as it is federally funded despite being helmed by the New York Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance. <\/p>\n
Hochul continued: \u201cHardworking New Yorkers count on this assistance to help with their utility bills and keep their homes warm during the cold winter months. That\u2019s why I fought hard to restore this funding and will continue to do everything in my power to help New York families apply for additional state funding to bring down energy costs.\u201d<\/p>\n
HEAP can offer a maximum of $996 per month to New York households to help pay for heating. <\/p>\n
The figure, of course, depends on a series of factors: the number of people within the household, whether someone in said household is considered a \u201cvulnerable member,\u201d income, and the heating source within the home. <\/p>\n
\u201cA family of four can have a maximum gross monthly income of $6,680, or an annual gross income of $80,165, and still qualify for assistance,\u201d the statement said. <\/p>\n
The program aided over 1.5 million homes during last year\u2019s winter months. <\/p>\n
To apply for the program and to find out more about qualifications, New Yorkers can submit their applications online, via the mail, or in person at local social services departments, the statement said. <\/p>\n
Older adults can also call 1-800-342-9871, the NY Connects helpline. <\/p>\n
Keep in mind that if households qualify for other OTDA benefits, it is possible to be automatically enrolled in HEAP benefits, the statement said. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. \u2014 As winter prepares to chill New York, Gov. Kathy Hochul is offering a financial…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":57569,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[39],"tags":[9,24,63,134,136,135],"class_list":{"0":"post-57568","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-staten-island","8":"tag-new-york","9":"tag-new-york-city","10":"tag-nyc","11":"tag-staten-island","12":"tag-staten-island-headlines","13":"tag-staten-island-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57568","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=57568"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57568\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/57569"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=57568"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=57568"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=57568"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}