ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Saturday, February 10, 1996 TAG: 9602120030
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: LESLIE TAYLOR STAFF WRITER
A program that helps low-income Virginians with home-heating emergencies - shut down last month for lack of money - resumed this week.
The federal government released additional money for the Energy Assistance Program, a federal effort to help the working poor, the elderly on fixed incomes, and welfare recipients stay warm during the winter. The program has two components - fuel assistance, which helps people offset the cost of home energy, and crisis assistance, which helps people with specific energy-related emergency troubles.
Virginia received an additional $1.7 million for the program. A portion of it - about $25,000 - was set aside to restart crisis assistance, said Charlene Chapman, manager of benefit programs for the Virginia Department of Social Services.
Crisis assistance usually runs Nov. 1 through March 15. Money ran out Jan. 25, forcing the program to shut down, said Joan Lyons, eligibility supervisor for the Roanoke County Department of Social Services. The state Social Services Department notified local departments Monday that the crisis program would resume that day, she said.
Crisis assistance is limited to maintenance, repair or replacement of a furnace and a once-in-a-lifetime payment of a security deposit for a primary heat source. Since Nov. 1, 20 Roanoke County residents and nearly 190 Roanoke residents have received crisis assistance.
Chapman said the state will be using the bulk of the $1.7 million for "cleaning up appeals and/or problem situations that we run into."
For instance, computer glitches may have caused some people not to receive their fuel assistance benefit, she said. And some people who were turned down for assistance and appealed may have had their appeals overturned, she said.
"They have to get benefits," Chapman said.
The additional money in no way fully replenishes a shortfall in Energy Assistance Program funds for Virginia, Chapman said. The state still will receive about $9 million less in program funds this fiscal year than last.
The average fuel assistance benefit last year was $181. This year, it is $133.
"That covers one fuel oil delivery and one or two gas payments," said Elliott Bayer, eligibility supervisor for the Roanoke Department of Social Services. "The most serious thing is reduction in funding. I have serious doubts whether there will even be a program next winter."
LENGTH: Short : 49 linesby CNB