A statewide awareness campaign has been launched to ensure that vulnerable Massachusetts households are able to stay safe, warm and healthy this winter.
Peabody, MA – Today, the Massachusetts Association for Community Action (MASSCAP) and North Shore Community Action Programs, Inc. (NSCAP), along with the Massachusetts Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities (EOHLC), the network of Community Action Agencies (CAAs) in Massachusetts and the Massachusetts Energy Directors Association (MEDA), launched its annual statewide awareness campaign to ensure that vulnerable Massachusetts households are able to stay safe, warm and healthy this winter. Households of all kinds may be eligible for help with their home winter heating bills, no matter the energy source.
Event recording: https://www.youtube.com/live/qg8g8t40d5E
Applications for home energy assistance are currently being accepted online, and income-eligible households may receive help from November 1, 2024, through April 30, 2025. Both renters and homeowners are eligible for assistance.
Applying is easy with the ability to apply online directly to the agency serving your town. The website www.heatinghelpMA.org (connected to the MASSCAP website) provides information for those in need of heating assistance as well as energy efficiency program information and a link to the online application portal, www.toapply.org/MassLIHEAP.
The awareness campaign will include local outreach, television and social media advertising. The campaign started today with a kickoff event at the NSCAP, Inc. office in Peabody that was also live streamed. (See link above for a recording of the event.)
Joe Diamond, Executive Director, MASSCAP explained, “Along with the critical goal of helping our vulnerable friends and neighbors to become economically stable and mobile, fuel assistance and weatherization support the health and safety of thousands of households. We know from studies conducted by Children’s Health Watch that the health of children is supported and enhanced in fuel assistance aided homes.” Diamond continued, “We update our legislators every year and we are grateful for their support over the years, including last year, to help vulnerable households with supplemental fuel assistance funding. We look forward to continuing the conversation with our legislators about the possibility of a state line item for fuel assistance.”
Home energy assistance is offered through the federal program (HEAP) that helps households making less than 60% of state median income to address home energy costs. In Massachusetts, the program is administered by EOHLC in partnership with community-based organizations, CAAs, and the City of Cambridge. Eligibility for HEAP is based on several factors, including household size and combined gross annual income of residents 18 and older. The program provides assistance for all sources of heat, including oil, electricity, natural gas, propane, kerosene, wood and coal. For example, a family of four, making up to $94,608 would be eligible for help.
Through related programs available with the same application there are home energy efficiency opportunities that provide not only payment relief and utility discounts, but also life-saving emergency heating repair and replacement and stabilizing, full-scale energy efficiency measures. These holistic programs allow both renters and homeowners to spend a smaller percentage of their income to meet their energy costs.
Senator Elizabeth Warren lent her support via video message, noting, “The reality is that the worsening climate crisis has made winters colder and more severe. This means that moms and dads are struggling to afford their heating bills. Your work is so powerfully important, so that families have the tools they need to take good care of the people they love.” Warren continued, “Massachusetts has always led the way for working families, we will continue to do that together.”
Senator Edward Markey told us via video message, “I will keep fighting to preserve designated funding for this life-saving program … for bigger, bolder HEAP investments so that households in every corner of our Commonwealth, every corner of our country, aren’t forced to choose between chills and bills.”
Edward Bettencourt, mayor of Peabody, added “…If folks like [community action staff] weren’t there, and organizations like this weren’t there to help people, where would we be?… Time and time again, we get calls at our office – on a daily basis – looking for some assistance and for help, and NSCAP has been a lifeline for the city of Peabody and so many across our community.”
In his remarks, Representative Jerry Parisella, 6th Essex, thanked MASSCAP and NSCAP for all that is done on heating assistance.
Additionally, Representative Tom Walsh, 12th Essex, added, “This is really a classic example of partnership – we have the federal government, the state government, the local government, and the agencies, all working together for the betterment of our constituents and residents.” He continued, “Thinking about the last couple of weeks, they were a wakeup call that winter is coming. Think about those that can’t afford to heat their homes. Thank you to all of you who are dedicated to this cause.”
Senator Joan Lovely, 2nd Essex, continued, “One of the biggest calls to our office is ‘how am I going to afford to heat my home?’” And she concluded “We are all in this as a strong partnership and I am proud to be a part of it.”
Amy Stitely, Undersecretary of Strategy and Climate, noted, “Heat touches more households than any other program at HLC on an annual basis. In terms of actual households and lives touched, this is the largest program.” Stitely concluded, “As we do address our climate needs, changes, and realities, we will be thinking and talking a lot about what a cooling program may look like for the future.”
Margie DeWeese-Boyd, Home Energy Assistance Director at NSCAP, reminded us how generous the income eligibility guidelines are, and that assistance doesn’t only mean help with energy assistance but can cover weatherization, repair of heating systems, and help with utility bills. According to DeWeese-Boyd, “Last year, NSCAP’s home energy assistance team was privileged to serve 7,000 residents in our seven towns.”
The home energy assistance program is also a health and safety program. State Fire Marshal Jon Davine told us, “Home heating equipment is the main source of carbon monoxide and the second leading cause of residential fires in Massachusetts. Well-maintained heating equipment is much less likely to cause fire or carbon monoxide incidents. The program doesn’t just help save money; it also helps save lives.”
Eligibility guidelines (snapshot of guidelines below) can be found at www.heatinghelpma.org. It is important to note that eligibility is based on the last four weeks of gross income and that any additional stimulus funds or pandemic unemployment assistance funds do not count toward income.
| Household Size | Gross Annual Income | 4 Week Gross Income (if paid once per month) | 4 Week Gross Income (if paid weekly or bi-weekly) |
| 1 | $49,196 | $4,099 | $3,784 |
| 2 | $64,333 | $5,361 | $4,948 |
| 3 | $79,470 | $6,622 | $6,113 |
| 4 | $94,608 | $7,884 | $7,277 |
| 5 | $109,745 | $9,145 | $8,441 |
| 6 | $124,882 | $10,406 | $9,606 |
NSCAP client, Kathleen, a 78-year-old resident of Salem, spoke about living alone and not being able to make ends meet after retiring two years ago. “Thank you so much for what you are doing, you have no idea the difference [heating assistance] makes in my life. I can go out for lunch with my friend because I’m not spending that money on heat.” Kathleen continued, “I’m one of 7,000 people and I’m treated like I’m special, like I matter.”
About MASSCAP
The Massachusetts Association of Community Action’s 23 private, non-profit human service and advocacy organizations work to administer key anti-poverty programs in every city and town in the Commonwealth. These organizations serve approximately 600,000 low-income people annually, more than half of them with incomes below 125% of the federal poverty level.
For 60 years, Community Action Agencies have been on the front lines of addressing poverty — administering federal programs, federal community services and community development grants, and state funds. CAAs are economic engines in cities and towns across Massachusetts, providing communities with an annual infusion of over $1.2 million in total resources. CAAs generate at least twice that amount, helping clients become economically stable and mobile.
About the Massachusetts Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities
The Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities (EOHLC) was established in 2023 to create more homes and lower housing costs in every region. EOHLC also distributes funding to municipalities, oversees the state-aided public housing portfolio, and operates the state’s EA family shelter.
EOHLC Press Contact: Meg Fouhy, Elevate, mfouhy@elevatecom.com