"Eat or Heat" - A low-income household dilemmaa in winter

Did you know:

Since 2005, the average cost to heat homes has risen about 27%?

Residents in low-income households in the northern US are more likely to go hungry in late winter?

In northern states, poor families with children spend less of food and more on home fuels, and the children have lower caloric intake during winter months.

74% of households that include older adults report that they cut back on the purchase of household necessities because of high energy bills.

Of homes enrolled in LIHEAP, the federal low income heat assistance program, one in six reported that were were unable to use their main heating source at some point in the previous year because they did not have the money to fix a broken furnace or buy bulk fuels such as oil, propane or wood, or prevent the shutoff of utility service for non-payment.

Of LIHEAP enrolled homes, one quarter report going without food for at least one day because of energy bills in the past five years.

Source: “Affordable Home Energy and Health: Making the Connections by the
AARP Public Policy Institute, June 2010, http://www.aarp.org/money/low-income-
assistance/info-06-2010/2010-05-consumer.html