When temperatures climb, so does the risk of illness and death for low-income families, but Congress can help by increasing funding for the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP). Last month was the hottest July on record, and the outlook for August doesn’t look any better. A Washington Post analysis reported this week that more than 10 percent of all Americans are now living in areas of the country with rapidly warming temperatures.
With record-breaking heat waves happening nearly every year, families need to begin taking steps now to adapt their houses to rising temperatures by increasing insulation, installing ceiling fans, and upgrading air conditioning systems. Adapting to rising temperatures will be expensive for all families; for low income families the costs could be devastating. We must all pitch in to make sure families can adapt to the new climate normal, including paying for higher air conditioning and upgrading their homes.
Fortunately, there is a federal program designed to help families pay their heating and cooling bills and provide basic weatherization services – LIHEAP. However, at current funding levels it only has enough resources to help one out of every five households.
The U.S. House of Representatives has taken a step in the right direction by providing an additional $150 million for LIHEAP for FY 2020, bringing the total funding up to $3.8 billion. While that sounds like a lot, it is still not enough to help America’s struggling families, and is significantly less than the $5.1 billion provided in FY 2009.
Unaffordable energy bills can hurt more than just your credit. If you are elderly, disabled or suffer from heart or other health conditions and you can’t afford the cost of air conditioning, you are at greater risk of becoming seriously ill or even losing your life. Extreme heat is a known risk factor for those who are medically vulnerable. While the National Weather Center estimates an average of 175 heat-related deaths every year, we believe these numbers to be under-reported, since heat can be the factor that leads to death in someone who is already medically vulnerable or has other conditions that are made worse by overheating. Nevertheless a study from the University of South Carolina found that heat leads to more deaths than any other natural disasters.
We know what happens when families can’t pay their air conditioning bills – they go without food, medicine or other essentials or they simply don’t turn on their A/C, potentially putting them at serious health risk. Elderly Americans who have no other income other than Social Security are particularly at risk. After they pay for rent, food, and other essentials they have little money left over to keep their homes at a safe temperature.
Congress should do the right thing and increase funding for LIHEAP for 2020. Access to adequate heating and cooling is a problem that can be improved. No family should have to suffer as a result of high temperatures in the summer or low temperatures in the winter.
By Mark Wolfe and Cassandra Lovejoy
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