Local social service representatives had stern words Thursday for the state agency overseeing HEAP, a heating assistance program that suddenly closed — and then reopened — last month.

“I really felt like the carpet was just ripped out from underneath us here,” Kira Pospesel, social services commissioner for Greene County, told state officials at an advisory council meeting for the Home Energy Assistance Program.

The state’s HEAP director, Keri Stark, apologized for the “very chaotic” situation that ensued when applications for the program were abruptly cut off in January, during one of the coldest weeks this winter. She said the state had paid out more benefits in the first months of this season than it did last year, citing colder weather, but did not give a full accounting of how HEAP ground to such a rapid halt.

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.

Applications closed for three days, until Governor Kathy Hochul’s office announced that she would reallocate $35 million from an unspecified source to allow the program to open again that weekend. The move eased the initial panic. But it’s unclear how long Hochul’s cash infusion will keep the program open, and key questions remain about why HEAP shut down so early in the first place.

Two weeks on, the state agency in charge does not see it fit to answer them.

Affordability and the high cost of raising a family are key issues as campaign season heats up around the state, with mayoral elections this year and a governor’s election in 2026 that is likely to be competitive.

Child care is a sizable chunk of that cost. In 2023, for instance, infant care cost an average of about $19,500. High prices can create a substantial burden for parents, some of whom leave the workforce as a result.

The state helps many parents pay for it through a voucher system called the Child Care Assistance Program. In recent years, Governor Kathy Hochul and lawmakers nearly quadrupled the state’s spending on it, expanded eligibility for the vouchers, and increased payments to providers.

Still, the state spends less than half a percent of its approximately $240 billion budget on the program, and high child care costs continue to drive families out of the state and into poverty. Here’s a rundown of what the vouchers are, how they’re funded, and what might be next for child care in New York.