Heat assistance remains delayed for Waltham residents despite government reopening

Federal funding for heat assistance has been restored after a 43-day government shutdown, but money won’t arrive in Massachusetts for another four to six weeks, leaving many Waltham residents wondering how they’ll heat their homes in the meantime. 

Massachusetts received $144 million for the program last year. More than half of the 159,000 residents who received assistance last year were seniors. Ten percent of families had a child younger than the age of 5.

Ann Sirois, chief planning and development officer for Community Teamwork, the nonprofit organization that helps administer the program in Waltham and in more 70 other towns in Massachusetts, said payments are on the way.

“There may be a delay in payments being issued, but the money will be coming,” said Sirois. “I don’t want folks to feel like because there is a delay that they shouldn’t apply. It is really important that they go ahead and apply.”

Sirois said only emergency situations will be considered for immediate funding. She also said there is a moratorium in place, which means that utility companies cannot shut off gas or electric services.

“There still certainly is the stress of seeing that bill mount until that assistance is applied to it,” Sirois said, “but the moratorium should protect folks. There won’t be any shutoff notices issued.”

The moratorium does not protect those who heat their homes with fuel oil, which is used in about a quarter of Massachusetts homes. 

It also doesn’t help that shutdown-inspired budget cuts led to three of the energy team’s nine employees being laid off. 

The staff reduction “certainly slows down the application process,” said Sirois. “We have … over 7,000 applications in hand that staff are working on processing.”

Ben Stone, a Waltham resident and digital customer success manager at United Rentals, agrees that layoffs will only delay the application screening process.

“It’s really sad to think about somebody having to consider wearing five sweatshirts inside instead of bumping their heat up a couple degrees,” said Stone. “I know a lot of people around here work really hard — extra shifts, paying for folks in their family to go to school, to eat, whatever — anytime that budget slips over, even by just a few dollars, it can be really devastating.”

Waltham resident Tim Bagnall, 66, said he has been receiving heat assistance since 1980. Out of necessity, he said he typically stretches his budget, including heat assistance, down to the very last penny. 

“It hurts in the stomach,” Bagnall said after hearing about the delay in funding. “It’s not much money at all.”

This story was written in collaboration with the Boston University local journalism program.