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BAY NEWS 9 | BY Melissa Eichman 
PUBLISHED 8:40 PM ET Jun. 25, 2025

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ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — A program that helps senior citizens pay their utility bills faces federal funding cuts under President Donald Trump’s proposed budget.

What You Need To Know

• A program that helps seniors with their utility bills is in jeopardy
• The program has already served hundreds locally this year
• Agency fears that eliminating the program could push seniors into homelessness

“The proposed 2026 budget has zero dollars,” said Christine Didion, Director of Programs at Area Agency on Aging of Pasco-Pinellas, referring to the Emergency Home Energy Assistance for the Elderly Program, which is in jeopardy of being eliminated.

The agency reports the program served more than 530 seniors in the 2023-2024 program year, and 386 seniors have been served in the 2024-2025 program year.

“It’s just very scary to think about what a senior who does depend on a medical device to live or who relies on air conditioning as we all do when its 100 degrees outside and they’re calling and saying my utilities have been shut off and I don’t know what to do,” said Didion. “It’s very scary to think how we’re going to help people.”

One of those seniors currently benefiting from the program is 67-year-old Kathleen Fitzgerald of Pasco County.

“It just means that I can buy the things that I need, as opposed to some people out there that have to decide between food and medication,” said Fitzgerald, who reached out to the agency after the loss of her husband in 2019. “I just didn’t have the money.”

She’s grateful for the help, but Fitzgerald and seniors like her are in jeopardy of losing the assistance.

Didion says she’s concerned about how the lack of funding could impact the seniors they serve.

“It could increase people having to go into assisted living or a nursing facility, if they can’t live in a safe environment or be at risk of losing their housing altogether or be homeless,” said Didion.
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