With Extreme Heat and Energy Bills on the Rise, WE ACT and Over 60 Orgs Demand Restoration of Essential Cooling and Cost Relief for Vulnerable Communities
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 28, 2025
Contact: Ashley Sullivan, ashley.sullivan@weact.org
WASHINGTON – WE ACT for Environmental Justice led 65 organizations to urge full funding for the essential, bi-partisan, and popular Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) in the Fiscal Year 2026 Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies Appropriations bill. In addition, with recent news of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) illegally firing the entire office responsible for implementing the LIHEAP program, WE ACT and partners demand that the LIHEAP program be fully staffed moving forward. Yuwa Vosper, Federal Policy Manager at WE ACT for Environmental Justice shared the following:
“LIHEAP is a critical lifeline for environmental justice communities who face disproportionate energy burdens due to decades of systemic disinvestment and discriminatory policies. It helps families keep the heat and lights on and serves as a climate resilience tool—protecting health and safety as extreme weather worsens. To truly advance justice, we must fully fund and expand LIHEAP while aligning it with broader efforts to improve housing conditions, energy efficiency, and clean energy access in frontline communities.”
These issues are extremely serious as winter energy costs for heating can be severe, and heat in the summertime is deadly. Heat is the deadliest extreme weather event in the United States, killing more people each year than all other forms of unnatural disasters combined. The rate is much higher in low-income communities and communities of color, as these groups are the most susceptible to the impacts of climate change. In fact, in New York City, 50 percent of the heat-related deaths are among Black/African American people, even though they make up only 25 percent of the city’s population. Despite tremendous need, the government is cutting the staffing of LIHEAP programs; dismissing LIHEAP staff puts 6.2 million people at risk nationwide – including more than 1.1 million households in New York State.
LIHEAP is popular and it works! But LIHEAP is severely underfunded. Recent WE ACT Healthy Homes First campaign polling showed that over 74% of bi-partisan national voters and almost 90% of low-income people of color are in support of LIHEAP. In 2022, LIHEAP ensured energy service for 1.7 million homes, and restored service to almost 250,000 more. However, because of limited funding, the program runs out earlier each year due to overwhelming demand. With summer on the horizon and temperature predictions showing a high likelihood of 2025 smashing all prior records of extreme heat in many cities, this funding is life or death.
“To save lives and build climate resilience in vulnerable communities, LIHEAP must be comprehensively reformed, beginning with a significant investment from Congress to adequately fund the program as energy poverty and heat exposure compound, continuing to take lives at a staggering rate.” said Caleb Smith, WE ACT’s Resiliency Coordinator.
WE ACT and partners are committed to advocating for our communities who face the greatest negative climate impacts, exploding energy costs, and continued disproportionate exposure to environmental hazards. We will continue to demand actions to reverse these burdens by ensuring this urgently needed, well-supported, bi-partisan program is fully staffed and adequately funded.
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WE ACT for Environmental Justice is a Northern Manhattan membership-based organization whose mission is to build healthy communities by ensuring that people of color and/or low-income residents participate meaningfully in the creation of sound and fair environmental health and protection policies and practices. WE ACT has offices in New York and Washington, D.C. Visit us at weact.org and follow us on Facebook, Bluesky, and Instagram.