Low-income Wyoming homes still without heating assistance as temperatures dive, federal shutdown drags on

Temperatures are plunging across the Equality State, and thousands of low-income households are without heating assistance due to the federal government shutdown, now entering its fifth week.

The federally funded Wyoming Low Income Energy Assistance Program stopped approving new applications when its funding ran out Oct. 15, but continues to accept applications so that qualified candidates will receive help as soon as Congress approves a spending bill.

State LIEAP officials had OK’d assistance for 1,168 households before the pause on approvals, guaranteeing some level of reimbursement toward natural gas and electricity bills for the 2025-26 heating season, according to officials. However, the Wyoming Department of Family Services, which manages the LIEAP program, has received an estimate