By Owen Boss
Staff Writer
EASTHAMPTON - Isabelle Barnachez is among the thousands of area residents receiving heating assistance this winter, and the combination of higher oil prices and lower benefits have many in her position worried that they may have to decide between heating their homes and buying food.
When a crew of workers from Home Energy Solutions arrived to better insulate the walls, ceilings and basement of Barnachez's Ely Avenue home last week, she welcomed them in out of the cold with hot coffee and doughnuts.
Barnachez, 79, lives in a two-story Easthampton Housing Authority property reserved for senior citizens and veterans and said she has struggled with keeping warm during the winter months for years.
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"Last winter I couldn't even touch the walls in here without feeling how cold they were," Barnachez said. She noted that when workers scanned her home for drafts their equipment indicated that many of the walls were only partially insulated.
Barnachez qualifies for the weatherization help because she is a recipient of federal fuel assistance dollars. Fuel assistance programs, funded by the federal government and generally administered by anti-poverty agencies, are the entry point for weatherization programs.
More applicants
This year, the dollars are flowing more freely for weatherization work than for fuel assistance, according to Peter Wingate, Energy Director from Community Action! of Franklin, Hampshire, and North Quabbin Regions Inc.
Though Barnachez is hopeful that the new insulation will keep her warm and help her stretch her energy dollars this winter, she said she worries that the 100 gallons of oil provided through home heating assistance for low-income people won't last her very long.
"On average I use 300 gallons of oil on heat every year and what they've given me this year just isn't going to do it," Barnachez said, as she sipped a cup of tea in her kitchen.
Like other assistance recipients in the area, Barnachez's application arrived in the mail accompanied by a letter urging her to contact local legislators and ask them to advocate for increasing funding for heating assistance programs.
Wingate, who helped organize the program that funded Barnachez's insulation project, said he is seeing more heating assistance applicants than ever at Community Action's offices on Vernon Street in Northampton and at its main headquarters in Greenfield.
"We are expecting between a 15 and 20 percent increase in applications from our numbers last year," Wingate said. He attributed the sudden increase to a much larger number of middle-class people applying for assistance than in years past.
For the 2009-2010 winter, the agency accepted 10,198 people into the fuel assistance program, up 15 percent from the previous winter.
So far this year, Wingate said, the agency has taken in 8,500 applications, and is anticipating about 3,500 more.
"That's what we're preparing ourselves for," said Wingate. "It's going to be tough."
Best, worst of times
He said the program is set up so that no eligible applicants are turned away, but the amount of assistance given to those who qualify fluctuates depending upon the amount of federal money approved for the season, and the number of applicants seeking help.
At the federal level, the fuel assistance program was funded at $5.1 billion last winter.
This year, so far, a budget hasn't been approved, but those in the field say they are projecting a funding of $3.1 billion.
On the agency level, Community Action, which serves Hampshire and Franklin county clients, received $7.7 million for fuel assistance, compared to a projected $3.9 million this year.
"We're just barely into December and people are calling up to say they've used up their fuel assistance allotment for the year," said Wingate.
"There's always the fear of people using unsafe space heaters out of desperation."
On the other hand, he noted, "energy-efficiency dollars," which fund various weatherization programs, are up.
"So it's the best of times and the worst of times, all rolled into one," Wingate said. If people are living in weather-tight houses, but have no money to buy fuel, it will still be hard to stay warm.
"We're having more and more people come in who never dreamed they'd be eligible for assistance," Wingate said.
He said many applicants are those who until recently, had "pretty decent jobs," but are now out of work.
"We are also seeing many more younger families who are dealing with a situation where a two-person income became one when one of them lost their job," said Wingate.
The maximum heating assistance benefit offered to applicants last year was $1,240, Wingate said.
This year, those same residents can receive a maximum of only $515.
"We're urging people who are thinking 'I qualify but don't want to apply because it will take away from someone else who needs it' to come in," Wingate said.
"They need to know that the benefit level was lowered so we could spread it out over more households."
The increased demand for heating assistance, Wingate said, is being reported by agencies statewide.
Gail D. Pisacane, director of energy programs for Springfield's Valley Opportunity Council, said the situation is growing more and more dire in the commonwealth's major cities.
"Right now the maximum benefit is $515, and we're paying $2.87 for a gallon of oil, so that would get a resident a maximum of 179 gallons," Pisacane said.
"When you think about it, that's not going to get anyone very far. People are really hurting because of this."
Every fall the council sends heating assistance applications to senior centers across Franklin County, and this year the organization is being asked to send out additional forms, she said.
"The fact that they are asking us to send over more applications is a reflection of how many elderly people are coming in and asking for help," Pisacane said.
"So we are very worried that lower benefits are going to mean that our citizens are going to have a hard time staying warm this year."
For more information about applying for heating assistance, visit the agency's website.
Owen Boss can be reached at oboss@gazettenet.com.
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