The Trump Administration Fired the Staff That Runs the Low Income Home Energy Program. What Will That Mean in the Berkshires?
Claire O’Callahan — The Berkshire Eagle / April 4, 2025
“With the end of the heating season just weeks away, states have already received about 90 percent of the money allocated by Congress for the Low Income Home Energy Program.
But when that last 10 percent will arrive is anybody’s guess.
That’s because the Trump administration this week abruptly fired the entire staff running the federal program, which provides over $7.8 million annually to help more than 8,000 low income households in the Berkshires heat their homes.
Officials at the Berkshire Community Action Council, which administers the program locally, say the last tranche of fiscal 2025 funding amounts to $672,839.
“We’re optimistic that we will get it,” said Deborah Leonczyk, the agency’s executive director. “We expect it to be late because of all the staffing changes, but we still expect to get it.”
The firings were part of a larger effort to shrink the Department of Health and Human Services by 10,000 employees, as Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. moved to drastically reorganize the agency on Monday. Among the terminated employees were the 25 staff members who had been overseeing the energy assistance program, the New York Times reported.
“By eliminating the federal staff responsible for LIHEAP, Donald Trump and RFK Jr. are telling working families, seniors and veterans to fend for themselves,” Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass., said in a statement to The Eagle. “This is not reform — this is sabotage.”
Those layoffs have gutted the federal office in Boston that administers fuel assistance to low-income families across New England, including here in the Berkshires.
The office also helps to administer Head Start, a federal program that provides funding for young children from low-income families to receive early education services. Berkshire County Head Start did not respond by press time to requests for comment about how the firings could affect its work.
An HHS employee who oversaw one of the agency’s low-income programs before he was fired told the Boston Globe that LIHEAP recipients should expect “significant delays” in future funding as a result of the layoffs.
Leonczyk said the potential funding delay will primarily affect households that heat with gas and electricity, and have fallen behind on their bills during the winter.
About 2,400 households that have applied for fuel assistance and heat with gas or electricity have exhausted their current benefit, which is limited to a maximum $850 and differs by household size and gross income, said Tammy Biagini, who directs the program.
Households that heat with deliverable sources like oil, propane, wood, pellets and kerosene got a benefit increase earlier this year when BCAC received additional funding, bringing their maximum up to $1,500. Those households are more vulnerable during the winter months, as a state moratorium that prevents gas and electric companies from shutting off people’s services for nonpayment does not cover households that heat with deliverables.
But now that the moratorium has ended, households that heat with non-deliverable sources also are vulnerable to shutoffs.
“We’re going to work with the utility companies to let them know that the funding is coming,” Leonczyk said. “It’s just going to be delayed.”
She said local energy companies are loath to shut off households’ utilities, and are usually willing to work out a payment plan, especially if the household has demonstrated their desire to pay off back bills.
“Start making small payments on your bill if you get a shut-off notice, and then when you come to us for help, it’ll be much much easier for us to help you,” Leonczyk said.
Eighty-nine percent of the households that have applied for fuel assistance this year received it in the past, and rely on the program to keep their homes heated during the frigid winter months, Biagini said. Without the assistance, they would face difficult choices between heating their homes or putting food on the table.
“Almost 60 percent of the people who utilize our programs are senior citizens,” Leonczyk said. “The rest are either people with disabilities or working families.”
LIHEAP was created by Congress in 1981 to help offset high utility bills. For fiscal 2025, Congress approved $4.1 billion for the program, which was expected to serve roughly 6.2 million people across the nation.
A study published in The Economic Journal last year found that roughly 17 percent of U.S. households spend more than one-tenth of their income on energy, a threshold researchers have defined as a “severe” cost burden. The study also identified a strong relationship between energy affordability and winter mortality.
As energy prices rise and the climate crisis worsens, exacerbating weather conditions, the LIHEAP program will only become more critical for low-income households.
“Heating and cooling isn’t a luxury,” Markey said in his statement. “It’s a necessity.”
U.S. Rep. Richard Neal, D-Springfield, said the LIHEAP firings are another “overreach by the president and his staff,” which he expects some Republican representatives from the Northeast will object to.
Sen. Markey said he has reintroduced his Heating and Cooling Relief Act to “permanently expand” access to LIHEAP.
“I will keep fighting to restore these jobs, unlock remaining LIHEAP funds and guarantee that every family — no matter their income or ZIP code — has access to the affordable and clean energy they need to stay healthy and safe,” Markey said.
Households can continue to apply for fuel assistance up until April 30.
“We are moving forward just as we would any other year,” Biagini said. “We’re not slowing down. We encourage people to continue applying [for fuel assistance].”