By Dan Christensen, FloridaBulldog.org
It looks to be a long, very hot summer ahead for needy low-income households in Florida and across the United States.
The Trump administration earlier this month fired the entire staff, approximately 25 people, responsible for managing the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP), according to The New York Times. The cuts were part of a sweeping reduction of 20,000 employees at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).
The Times and The Washington Post reported Thursday that an internal HHS memo is proposing the Trump administration make about $40 billion in cuts next year, while doing away with dozens of public health programs that now address autism, teen pregnancy, lead poisoning, opioid recovery and support for rural hospitals.
Congress created LIHEAP in 1981 as part of the social safety net. It provides financial assistance to about 6.2 million eligible households – including older adults, people with disabilities and other vulnerable people – to pay for cooling and heating costs. The money flows in block grants to states, then to local agencies with specific clients who use it to pay their electric bills and avoid disconnection.
In Florida, the money flows through the Department of Commerce.
Congress allocated $4.1 billion to LIHEAP for the current fiscal year that ends Sept. 30. The program has had broad bipartisan support.
The disbursement of funds is now in jeopardy, however, due to the federal job cuts by the Trump administration. Florida, as the hottest state in the U.S., stands to be greatly impacted.
On X, HHS Secretary Robert Kennedy Jr. called the HHS layoffs “a difficult moment” and added, “Our hearts go out to those who have lost their jobs… HHS needs to be recalibrated to emphasize prevention, not just sick care…This overhaul is about realigning HHS with its core mission: to stop the chronic disease epidemic and Make America Healthy Again.”
Kennedy said nothing about LIHEAP or those consumers who will be impacted by its cuts.
BROWARD’S ‘OVERWHELMING’ LIHEAP APPLICATIONS
“We are very concerned that the lack of staff will result in delays in the $378 million in unreleased LIHEAP funding to the states. If that happens, states can’t provide emergency help to families in need,” said Mark Wolfe, executive director of the National Energy Assistance Directors Association.
The Energy and Policy Institute reported April 4 that for the second month in a row Broward County has stopped accepting applications for emergency assistance. In March, the county’s online LIHEAP application portal was shut down and residents told to “check back” on April 2.
Today, Broward’s site says, “Due to overwhelming numbers of applications submitted on April 2, 2025 the LIHEAP application portal is now closed to allow for the timely processing of applications. The portal will reopen once existing applications are processed and based on funding availability.” Those who hoped to apply were told to “check back with us again at 8:30 a.m. on May 7.”
Miami-Dade’s LIHEAP site is accepting applications.
Kristi Hill, assistant director at Broward County’s Family Success Administration Division, explained that the county’s LIHEAP program has been swamped like that “for quite a while. She said the number of families currently being helped by LIHEAP is hard to determine because the number varies as people use up their benefits, drop off the list and are replaced by those more recently approved.
“It’s open until they receive approximately 1,000 applications, which usually happens within a matter of two or three hours, then they close it because that’s the limit staff we have are able to process,” said Hill. “It’s open and closed about once every three to four weeks.”
Fortunately, Broward has the funds to keep LIHEAP going until the end of August.
“We did recently receive another disbursement. It was kind of an unexpected disbursement, but obviously needed, of about $5 million,” Hill said. “The time we have to spend that was extended to August 30th. That’s the money we’re going to be dipping into shortly.”
FP&L NONCOMMITAL ON HELP
In the past, Florida Power & Light has donated millions in bill credits to help low-income customers, most notably during the COVID-19 pandemic. The company, however, was noncommittal when asked by Florida Bulldog what it might do this time around.
“LIHEAP provides essential support for Florida’s most vulnerable residents, especially our state’s seniors. This income-based program helped tens of thousands of Floridians with over $100 million in payments last year alone. Since LIHEAP’s inception more than four decades ago, FPL has worked with the Florida delegation to ensure full and fair funding of the program,” said Bianca Soriano, manager of customer service communications, in a prepared statement.
If Kennedy’s HHS suffocates LIHEAP, and Congress does not intervene to save the program it created, the consequences may be dire.
“LIHEAP saves lives, and it has helped keep home energy more affordable for over 40 years,” said Olivia Wein, senior attorney at the National Consumer Law Center. “It’s critical that HHS ensure there is no disruption to the administration of the LIHEAP program in order to protect families during future hot summers and cold winters.”
In the meantime, there are efforts in the Legislature to address the problem.
House bill 419, filed by Rep. Debra Tendrich, D-Lantana, would prohibit residential utilities from being disconnected for nonpayment under certain circumstances. An identical bill is pending in the Senate, filed by Sen. Lori Berman, D-Boynton Beach.
Tendrich said her bill would “ensure that no one in Florida will have their utilities disconnected during extreme heat, cold, or state of emergencies, similar to when Governor DeSantis took steps to prevent utility shutoffs in Florida during COVID.”
Tendrich said she’s aware of “countless families who faced devastating choices between paying their electricity bill or covering other basic necessities. One mother shared how, during a scorching Florida summer, she and her asthmatic child endured days without power because they couldn’t afford their bill. The heat made it nearly impossible to breathe, turning their home into a dangerous environment.
“Extreme temperatures can be life-threatening, especially for seniors on fixed incomes, medically fragile individuals, Veterans with PTSD, and struggling families. Heatstroke, dehydration, and worsening chronic illnesses aren’t just risks—they are realities for those who lose power when they need it most.”
The chance of either bill becoming law, however, are slim in the Republican-controlled Legislature. Neither bill has moved significantly since being introduced.
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