With Utility Bills Up, Aid Programs Feel the Heat

"What I can give them can't touch what they really need," Crystal Brownlee says of the money she hands out each month to help people cover utility bills. (By Sarah L. Voisin -- The Washington Post)
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In the District, the same heating assistance program that served 24,000 applicants last year expects to serve as many as 30,000 this year, said George Hawkins, director of the D.C. Department of the Environment. The program, which has a $21 million budget, reaches about 50 percent of eligible households.

"That still means 50 percent don't get it," Hawkins said.

In Virginia, requests were up but less dramatically, 108,000 this year, compared with 105,000 last year, officials said.

Needs remain, said Terry Martin, weatherization program manager for the Rural Areas Development Association, which serves southwestern Virginia. "They have a LIHEAP program, but the people I've talked to say it's just not enough. I know families who have had to move in with relatives because their power has been shut off or they are short of fuel."

The Bush administration, citing the need for states to reduce administrative costs associated with LIHEAP and to improve outreach to needy families, has proposed spending less on the program in the coming fiscal year, earmarking $2 billion in block grants and contingency funds, down from $2.57 billion. The reduction would mean millions less in energy assistance for the region.

At the Light House, the last person Crystal Brownlee can help on this morning, the 18th in the line, is the real estate agent, who hasn't sold a thing lately.

"You want to buy a house?" the young woman asks Brownlee, embarrassed to be seeking utility assistance.

"I'll give you $100 toward your bill," Brownlee tells her, knowing that the amount won't come close to settling the woman's account. "Try Holy Family," she adds, suggesting a church that might be able to provide a little more.

And with that, Brownlee's $2,000 in monthly emergency assistance funds is gone.

She has to tell the small knot of people at the end of the line she cannot help them.

Most walk away wearily. One woman is angry and starts shouting.

"I'd love for us to be able to get more money," Brownlee said, "so I don't have to turn anybody away."