Ohio again offers heating assistance for eligible residents this winter

Ohio again offers heating assistance for eligible residents this winter

Associated Press

COLUMBUS

Heating assistance will be available again this winter to eligible Ohio households, state officials have announced.

The HEAP [Home Energy Assistance Program] Winter Crisis Program is administered by the Ohio Development Services Agency’s Office of Community Assistance. It assists qualified Ohioans with winter heating costs from Nov. 1 through March 31.

The agency says the program will provide assistance once per heating season to eligible households threatened with disconnection or that have been disconnected. It also provides help to those with less than a 10-day supply of bulk fuel.

Qualifying for the program depends on household size and the total gross household income for either the past three or 12 months. That income must be at or below 200 percent of the federal poverty guidelines.

The program served about 155,000 households last winter.

The agent for the HEAP program in Mahoning County is the Mahoning Youngstown Community Action Partnership on Fifth Avenue.