Wednesday, Mar 2 2011 5:50PM
Heating assistance for Utah's low-income population may be reduced due to a federal budget cut.
Thousands of Utahns may be affected by a federal cut that would reduce funding toward a program that provides heating assistance to low-income households, reported the Salt Lake City Tribune.
Lawmakers are anticipating a cut in federal social services spending, according to the newspaper, which will slash funding for Utah's Home Energy Assistance Target (HEAT) program, reducing assistance from an average of $510 to $360 per household.
HEAT, which functions as a rural community assistance program in the state's outlying regions, helped 50,000 Utah households in 2010. Gordon Walker, the director of the state's Division of Housing and Community Development told the paper that his agency has seen a 5 percent increase in applications for assistance this fiscal year. To help as many families as possible, the agency decided to lower the benefit amount.
"We think this is a very prudent decision and that if we take action now, we can serve more families," Walker said. "We know the funds will be decreased."
The recession has significantly increased poverty among Utahns. Data from the Census bureau showed that the percentage of households below the poverty line jumped from 9.6 in 2008 to 11.5 in 2009.