People who are being delayed on low-income assistance in Kentucky, here’s why

HENDERSON, Ky. (WFIE) – If you need help from your local Audubon Community Services, you may have to wait a few days.

The organization provides a number of services for low-income residents, but one of the largest services currently is called LIHEAP.

“It provides a subsidy to people, based on their income and the number of people in their household, to pay a portion of their home energy costs,” said Faith Holley, Audubon Community Services Coordinator.

They have offices in seven different counties that are open every day from 8 a.m. to noon for people to come in and apply.

“In the afternoon, our clerks spend time entering this information into the system so our customers can get their benefits as quickly as possible,” Holley said.

The problem is that people say as soon as possible is not fast enough.

One woman we spoke to says her 75-year-old mother has shown up at Henderson’s several times just an hour after they opened, but says the doors were already closed.

“We can only process so many applications a day,” Holley said.

She says the limited number of clients they can take on a day, their transition to a new processing system and more people needing help this time of year are causing some delays.

“Everybody wants everybody to be served,” Holley said. “We’re not running out of funds, we have enough, it’s just going to take some time to reach every customer that needs our services.”

She says if you need help and applications are closed for the day, try to come back the next day.

“If you would just be patient and help us help you, we’ll get to every customer that needs our help,” Holley said.

She says the new system they have in place should help speed up the process in the future as they transition.