It might seem counterintuitive when programs that give people with low incomes a discount on their utility bills don鈥檛 have 100% enrollment. These programs are money-savers, after all. Who wouldn鈥檛 want that?
But in fact, it鈥檚 rare to have even a majority of eligible customers enrolled in these programs. That鈥檚 according to Manny Teodoro, an associate professor of public affairs at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Teodoro鈥檚 one of the few researchers in the U.S. who studies water-bill discount programs and water affordability.
鈥淭he most famous utility assistance program in the country is LIHEAP,鈥� Teodoro said, referring to the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program. 鈥淚t鈥檚 been around for over 40 years now and historically it鈥檚 had an average participation rate of 16%.鈥�
In contrast, the San Antonio Water System has almost 50% enrollment of eligible customers in its mainline discount program. It鈥檚 a substantial achievement worth exploring, especially considering that most of Cleveland and Philadelphia's water discount programs don鈥檛 have enrollments close to that number.
Greg Wukasch, external affairs manager for the San Antonio Water System, traces the relatively high enrollment rate in the discount program 鈥� part of a suite of assistance programs called Uplift 鈥� back to a decision early on to create an external affairs team.
The team of eight, including Wukasch, spends much of its time doing community outreach. Seven team members are bilingual in English and Spanish, an important qualification given that roughly 60% of San Antonio鈥檚 population is Latino. Several of those team members also used the discount programs in the past, so they better understand the struggles of the families who need that help, Wukasch added.
鈥淲e hire them with the understanding and idea鈥� that they are going to be at community events, at senior citizen centers, at council district offices, signing up families for our program,鈥� he said. 鈥�(We are) not building a call center, then asking people to call us.鈥�
Both the city of Cleveland and city of Philadelphia do have customer service teams, although they for the most part concentrate on billing rather than getting more people enrolled in the discount programs.
However, it鈥檚 hard to know much more about Cleveland鈥檚 practices. In the past year, the city of Cleveland has declined multiple requests to interview water and utility department leaders, both under current Mayor Justin Bibb and former Mayor Frank Jackson.
Cleveland Councilman Brian Kazy and city spokespeople have the message about payment plans the city offers, but those arrangements require people to pay part of their outstanding balance on top of their monthly bill, leading to higher monthly bills for residents who are already struggling.
Susan Crosby, deputy revenue commissioner for water with the city of Philadelphia, said her city heavily utilizes community partners to get the word out about its discount program, as well as the water department鈥檚 communications team. Crosby added that the city brings along discount-program employees during in-person and online outreach to help get people signed up. Plus, there where the city and its partners help walk people through the application.
Outside of the mainline water discount programs, Philadelphia, San Antonio, Cleveland and other cities typically offer additional programming for residents with low incomes. These other programs either provide discounts to unique groups of people 鈥� like the elderly 鈥� or help customers pay for repairs and efficiency upgrades on their property to reduce leaks and thus their water bills.
San Antonio, however, offers an additional program that Cleveland and Philadelphia do not: Project Agua, a donor-funded emergency relief program. Wukasch said that program provides a small amount twice a year 鈥� $230 total 鈥� that can help people who have already exhausted other assistance options.
Teodoro said it can be hard for cities to fund additional assistance programs, so looking to federal dollars or donor funds can be a smart way to help low-income residents with their water bills.
How easy is it to apply?
Wukasch said he also thinks San Antonio has high participation in its water discount program because the city has streamlined the application process. Customers only need to fill out one application to determine whether they鈥檙e eligible for 14 different assistance programs.
Simplifying the application also has another benefit.
鈥淚f you can speed that process up to qualify customers, that frees up your staff, not having to physically go through every application that comes in,鈥� Wukasch said.
The city is also exploring how to automate processing of those applications, to allow even more time for staff to get out into the community to do outreach.
Wukasch said he doesn鈥檛 think that an online-only application will leave behind people who aren鈥檛 digitally literate. People who aren鈥檛 great with computers call in for assistance filling out an application online, or show up to their City Council representative鈥檚 office hours 鈥� where members of Wukasch鈥檚 team have iPads and computers to sign people up.
Philadelphia has made similar improvements to its application process for its water assistance programs, moving to a single application as well (although it still requires people to recertify their income each year).
Cleveland, meanwhile, has two separate application streams for its water and sewer assistance programs. Most of them are available through an online application with local nonprofit CHN Housing Partners, but there鈥檚 also the Homestead Water and Sewer Discount program, which the city administers. That program requires people to mail in a single-form application.
What else can be done?
Crystal M.C. Davis, vice president of policy and strategic engagement for the , said water affordability has been a growing concern in the Cleveland area, especially since the formation of the
That鈥檚 a group consisting of the various players in the local water and sewer world, including the Northeast Ohio Regional Sewer District and the Cleveland Water Department.
The Alliance for the Great Lakes and the commissioned a study in 2019 that looked at the topic of water affordability broadly in Ohio. Teodoro, the University of Wisconsin associate professor, is the study鈥檚 author.
suggested several approaches to achieving water affordability. In rural areas, one suggestion involves consolidating different water utilities to improve buying power, to improve infrastructure without significantly increasing individual customers鈥� rates. That approach has some merit considering that, according to the study, Ohio has 1,187 individual water utilities and 923 sewer treatment facilities, almost 74% of which are serving populations of fewer than 3,300 people.
For both urban and rural areas, another suggestion is to change rate structures, reducing the cost of water for lower-volume users like residential customers and increasing cost for higher-volume users like businesses.
But what about making it easier to access assistance programs that are already out there? As covered previously in this series, Cleveland鈥檚 Homestead Water discount program has a very high rate of participation, possibly because it requires very little paperwork.
Teodoro said 鈥渢here鈥檚 no question鈥� that reducing administrative burdens in utility assistance programs will increase participation.
鈥淲e know that from decades of research on other kinds of programs like SNAP and Social Security鈥� he said. 鈥�... The problem, of course, is you worry about folks who are participating who really don鈥檛 qualify.鈥�
And Teodoro said it only takes a single high-profile case of fraud within an assistance program to put a program in 鈥減olitical trouble.鈥� So some utilities are understandably hesitant, he said, to move toward 鈥渟elf-certification,鈥� where customers are only required to say they qualify and not to back those claims up with documentation.
Is there political appetite for 鈥榳ater for all?鈥�
The study mentioned above did list another potential solution: a statewide assistance program for water bills. To date, California is the only state that has such a program in operation. Teodoro wrote in the study that such programs require 鈥渃areful policy design and investment in administrative capacity,鈥� as well as a significant amount of money to fund the benefit itself.
The Ohio Environmental Council and the Alliance for the Great Lakes both championed the 鈥淲ater for All鈥� act in the Ohio Legislature back in 2020, a bill meant to provide new relief to all Ohioans struggling to deal with their water bills.
That bill would have done several things:
- Set a sliding-scale for water rates and fees, based on a person鈥檚 income, not to exceed 4.5% of a person鈥檚 income.
- Require water utilities to put people on an 鈥渁ffordable and attainable鈥� payment plan if they鈥檙e behind on bills. If they make a payment each month for 24 months, they have their debt forgiven.
- Prohibit shutoff of water services for people who are behind on bills.
- Prevents liens from being placed on customers鈥� homes for failure to pay water bills.
Sound familiar? Minus the shutoff moratorium, Philadelphia鈥檚 TAP program is much the same as this proposed program.
But Water for All never went far in Ohio. Former Ohio State Rep. Erica Crawley, was the sponsor of the Water for All bill. She said the pandemic and difficult discussions around the state budget pushed the issue out of the forefront. t, plus, In addition, she was no longer able to advocate for its passage after she was appointed as a Franklin County Commissioner.
Crawley, a Democrat, said she thought of the issue of water affordability as a 鈥渂ipartisan鈥� issue, and noted that the bill鈥檚 first hearing was not contentious. However, the Republican-dominated Ohio Legislature doesn鈥檛 have a great track record when it comes to for low-income residents to access benefits.
Davis, with the Alliance for the Great Lakes, said there needs to be greater awareness of water affordability issues.
鈥淚 think there is some education work to be done on both sides of the aisle to make sure state legislators understand how these issues impact their districts (both urban and rural),鈥� Davis said.
Crawley said the bill鈥檚 language simply needs to be updated for a new legislative session, and to have a new champion now that she鈥檚 no longer a state representative. But it鈥檚 not clear how such a program would be funded.
鈥淲e should not ever have people living in conditions where they don鈥檛 have water,鈥� Crawley said. 鈥淓specially when they have children, or pregnant folks, or those who might be aging鈥� everybody鈥檚 dependent on water in some way.鈥�
This is the final piece in a three-part series looking at the state of water affordability in Cleveland, Philadelphia and beyond, authored by the in partnership with .
This story is a part of the鈥檚 Making Ends Meet project, and a continuing effort to report on the burden of water bills on low-income Clevelanders. NEO SoJo is composed of 18-plus Northeast Ohio news outlets including 海角破解版. Conor Morris is a corps member with . Email him at cmorris40@gmail.com
