HEATING/COOLING RELIEF & WEATHERIZATION SAVES LIVES
The Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) and the Weatherization Assistance Program (WAP) are lifelines, but they are in danger: You can help protect these life-saving programs.
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What is LIHEAP?
The Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) provides essential support to households struggling to pay their energy bills, especially as extreme weather increases due to the climate crisis.
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LIHEAP Saves Lives
LIHEAP is popular and it works! However, because of limited funding, the program runs out earlier each year due to overwhelming demand. With current threats to LIHEAP and temperature predictions showing a high likelihood of 2025 smashing all prior records of extreme heat in many cities, this funding is life or death.
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LIHEAP is in Danger
LIHEAP is already severely underfunded and with the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) illegally firing the entire office responsible for implementing the LIHEAP program, WE ACT and partners urgently advocate for full funding and staff restored.
LIHEAP HAS BROAD
BI-PARTISAN SUPPORT
LIHEAP is an essential, bi-partisan, and popular program. Over 74% of bi-partisan national voters and almost 90% of low-income people of color are in support of LIHEAP. In 2022, LIHEAP ensured energy service for 1.7 million homes, and restored service to almost 250,000 more.
Explore WE ACT’s polling data with Embold Research here.
“Access to these essential resources is not a privilege, but an undeniable right.”
—Caleb Smith, Resiliency Coordinator, WE ACT for Environmental Justice
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50%
American individuals, despite being
only 25% of the city’s population.
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6.2 Million
The removal of LIHEAP staff puts 6.2 million people at risk nationwide
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1.7 Million Homes
Weatherization is Efficient and Urgently Needed
The Weatherization Assistance Program is one of oldest, largest and most effective whole-of-home federal energy efficiency programs and has helped over 7.2 million low-income households, providing weatherization services that make their homes more energy efficient, lower energy bills, and improve health and safety.
For information about the Weatherization Assistance Program, please visit the how to apply page.
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WAP saves $372 in energy costs annually, which is crucial at a time when most communities, especially people of color and lower income households, are spending the majority of their income on energy costs.
It is also a sound investment, as for every $1.00 invested in weatherization, $1.72 is generated in energy benefits as well as $2.78 in non-energy benefits. -
By protecting communities right now, this efficiency program also reduces carbon emissions driving extreme climate impacts, and grows thousands of jobs.
As frontline communities increasingly face the worst of climate disasters and energy costs, along with many health issues related to fossil fuel infrastructure, these funds are a moral and practical imperative. -
Take Action
WE ACT and partners are committed to advocating for our communities who face the greatest negative climate impacts, exploding energy costs, and continued disproportionate exposure to environmental hazards. We will continue to demand actions to reverse these burdens by ensuring this urgently needed, well-supported, bi-partisan program is fully staffed and adequately funded.