Stay Warm this Winter with Heat Assistance.

It's October and we know colder weather is coming soon. The Farmers’ Almanac Winter 2022-2023 predictions state that North Dakota could get even more snow than usual.

The current recession is associated with sharp rises in unemployment and underemployment, leaving families with fewer resources to address their most basic needs—food, heat, and shelter. The health of people with low incomes often suffers because they can’t afford heat for housing.

On average across the United States, expect prices for all fuels to be higher than in recent winters. Rising wholesale commodity prices for natural gas, crude oil, and petroleum products are being passed through to consumers.

Both heating and eating are vital for our health in the cold weather, but winter hardship – having to choose between heating and eating -causes deaths every year. Locally people will die this winter because they can’t afford both food and fuel.

North Dakotans can apply for home heating help for the upcoming winter. Families in need of assistance paying their heating bills can apply for the state’s home energy assistance program.

Called the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP), the program covers a portion of a home’s heating costs, it can also help homeowners with winterizing their homes, including furnace repair, chimney inspection, and insulating doors.

Families that spend less money on home energy have more money available to contribute to the economy by buying other goods and services.

Homeowners and renters can apply now through May 31, 2023.

You can learn more at www.applyforhelp.nd.gov