State looks to stretch dollars for poor families’ heating bills

This year the state more than doubled the amount of money it received from the federal government to help families heat their homes.

But the state is going to try something different in order to stretch those dollars.

The Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program helps poor families pay their utility bill through 19 community agencies. The state is calling upon those agencies to raise money in order to receive 2 to 1 matching funds.

To that end, Governor Phil Bredesen says the Department of Human Services has set aside 5 million dollars.

“We stand to generate an additional 2.5 million dollars with these leveraging dollars, money that will go directly to paying the utility bills of our most vulnerable citizens.”

Bredesen says new funds will specifically target families with young children.

In October Tennessee’s Department of Human Services received 80 million federal dollars for its LIHEAP program, 50 million more than last year.