On the afternoon of Friday, January 17, New York City officials got an unexpected notice from the state. HEAP, the aid program which helps low-income New Yorkers pay their heating bills during the winter, was on the verge of closing, more than two months earlier than usual.
It was a jarring message to receive just before the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday. The Home Energy Assistance Program normally doesn’t close until the spring. And just that morning, the state social services agency had posted on Facebook encouraging people to apply.
Upon returning from the long weekend on Tuesday — one of the coldest days so far this winter — city officials received confirmation HEAP was closing, according to emails obtained by New York Focus. New Yorkers who still wanted to apply had until 5 pm that day…