Assemblyman Jeffrey Dinowitz has written a letter to the Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance urging that the Home Energy Assistance Program (HEAP) give co-op owners the same benefits as private homeowners. The HEAP program grants subsidies to homeowners and renters of modest means to help defray high home heating costs. Under the current regulations, co-op owners receive far smaller HEAP grants than owners of private homes.

“Right now thousands of co-op owners, many of them seniors, are struggling with high energy costs,” said Assemblyman Dinowitz. “They face the same challenges that homeowners do, but because of some unfair rules, they aren’t able to fully take advantage of a program they need. It’s not right to say that just because someone owns a co-op rather than a house, they shouldn’t be able to get help.”

“We need to change this procedure so that co-op owners are able to receive HEAP,” Assemblyman Dinowitz continued. “I strongly urge the administrators of the HEAP program to amend their rules so that co-op owners are treated equally with homeowners.”