Program Unable To Fund Local Heating Assistance

The Spokane Neighborhood Action Program has no funding available for heating assistance as the 1999-2000 heating season begins, spokeswoman Julie Graham said Monday.

Congress has not yet appropriated federal funds for low-income heating assistance, she said, and SNAP used last year’s Project Share allocation.

SNAP has never before entered the fall with no money to help people pay for natural gas, electricity, heating oil, wood or other fuel, Graham said.

She said federal money has been shrinking, forcing SNAP to rely more heavily on Project Share, which is funded with contributions from area utilities and their ratepayers. Project Share provided $205,000 last year.

And demand seemed to grow last year, in part because of welfare reform, Graham said.

In addition, “We had a lot of Kaiser people who came to us for assistance,” she said.

The United Steelworkers of America went on strike against Kaiser last Sept. 30. The strike became a lockout a few months later. About 2,100 of the 2,900 Steelworkers off the job are from the Mead and Trentwood plants.

Graham said SNAP accepts only as many applications as it has money to fill, so officials have no way of measuring the unmet need.

The program helped 6,000 families last year, she said.

Graham said SNAP will not begin taking applications this year until Congress and President Clinton reach agreement on funding.

“We can’t pay out money we don’t have,” she said.

Graham said callers seeking assistance have been phoning SNAP for a month. “Today, our phones are ringing off the hook,” she said.

SNAP distributed $1.6 million in federal money last winter, she said.

The Community Action Agency in Coeur d’Alene also will not take applications until the funding issue is resolved, an official there said.

Elise Deschenes, a legislative assistant for Rep. George Nethercutt, R-Spokane, said $1.1 billion for low-income energy aid nationwide is included in the appropriations bill for labor, health, human services and education.

The president has said he will veto that bill. To deflect a veto, Deschenes said, the measure may be coupled with a separate measure dealing with the District of Columbia.

Federal spending for energy assistance peaked in 1985 at $2.1 billion. Last year, $1.25 billion was appropriated.