Today, Senator Ed Markey (D-MA) and Representative Jamaal Bowman (D-NY 16) introduced the Heating and Cooling Relief Act of 2022, which would overhaul the existing Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program. Referred to as a “north star” bill because it reflects aspirational policy goals, the HCRA would increase funding from $3.9 billion annually to $40 billion per year in order to ensure no eligible family pays more than 3 percent of their income on energy bills, and that struggling households are able to pay both their winter heating and summer cooling bills.
The bill would also expand eligibility to 250 percent of the national poverty level (approximately 80 percent area median income), up from 150 percent of poverty or 60 percent AMI, officially dropping “Low Income” from the program’s name and expanding its mandate to include moderate income households.
Finally, the bill would provide enough funding to weatherize one million low and moderate income households each year. This expansion would go a long way towards improving the nation’s housing stock and also achieving the nation’s greenhouse gas reduction goals.
Bill Text
NEADA Executive Director Mark Wolfe’s Op-Ed on CNN.com
Markey/Bowman Press Release
Census Household Pulse Survey Highlights Inequities in Energy Affordability