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BAY NEWS 9 | BY Melissa Eichman PUBLISHED 8:40 PM ET Jun. 25, 2025 Click here to watch the video 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
“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. BAY NEWS 9 | BY Melissa Eichman
PUBLISHED 10:41 PM ET Jun. 17, 2025 Click here to watch the video ST PETERSBURG, Fla. — The number of seniors calling the Area Agency on Aging of Pasco-Pinellas for help with housing has increased 40 percent since before the COVID-19 pandemic to now, according to Area Agency on Aging of Pasco-Pinellas executive director Ann Marie Winter. While the cost of rent is on the rise, so is the number of older American tenants. What You Need To Know
Cynthia Woods, 62, takes pride in her St. Petersburg home. “I love gardening, that’s one of my favorite things to do,” said Woods of the hobby she says brings her peace. “My dream is to have my own home so I can do this.” She has been renting her home for 13 years. “Started off paying $900, two or three years ago it doubled, $1,850,” said Woods of the rent she says she’s struggling to pay. She wonders if home ownership is in her future. “Right now, I’m working on my credit again since the bankruptcy and trying to get in the position to buy a home because I can’t afford to move,” said Woods. Woods, who is a mother and grandmother, joins a growing number of older tenants in the United States. An Urban Institute projection reports those 65 and older renting will increase from 22% in 2020 to 27% in 2040. It also suggests for Black seniors, that number will double. “Seniors are reaching out to us because they can’t afford to live in their homes,” says Winter. "The agency offers more than 40 services to help seniors live well at home, aging from caregiving and wellness programs to transportation and mental health services. “We get about 1,000 calls a week from seniors." Those calls are from seniors like Woods, reaching out for those home and community-based services to help supplement their fixed income, especially when the cost of housing is soaring. “So, that limited income is all they have, so some feel that moving into a rental is going to be less expensive, more affordable because they won’t have to worry about replacing their roof or cleaning their gutters or maintaining their landscaping, they’ll pay one monthly fee and that will be it,” said Winter. “Things are happening everyday, it’s getting more and more expensive,” said Woods. |
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