Court Rules Against SDC Injunction
Milwaukee – The Social Development Commission has lost its 30-year grip on a Milwaukee County contract to provide energy assistence services to low-income residents following a court ruling dismissing an injunction against Milwaukee County filed by the agency.
Milwaukee County Director of Health and Human Services (DHHS) Hector Colon said that the courts ruling moves energy assistance forward for eligible residents in Milwaukee County.
The Social Development Commission’s motion for a temporary restraining ordered aimed to prevent the DHHS from awarding WHEAP emergency contracts to Community Advocates and UMOS.
“Circuit Court Judge Hansher’s ruling against the restraining order is a win for thousands of residents across Milwaukee County who depend on energy assistance during the cold winter months. Many of these residents, like Jeanette Melcher on Milwaukee’s Southside are disabled, elderly and on fixed incomes. The energy assistance program helps residents manage their energy bills through those months with extreme lows and highs. The emergency contract that can now go through will make it possible for Community Advocates and UMOS to begin their outreach to the most vulnerable in our community, registering them for energy assistance and providing them with peace of mind. The Social Development commission has been a valuable partner in this effort for nearly 40 years and we thank them for that partnership. Our population, however, has become more diverse, and we have learned from our residents how hard it has been for them to wait in long lines at the SDC locations without appointments. Community Advocates and UMOS will take a proactive, multi-cultural approach to ensuring people like Jeanette Melcher are registered by phone, in their home or in their community for energy assistance. Now, I hope the County Board supports the contracts to these two agencies when they meet in September,” said Colon.
SDC’s current contract ends Sept. 30 paid the anti-poverty agency more than $1.2 million a year to help residents sign up for partial payments of utility bills and reconnection charges, fuel oil deliveries and costs of furnace repairs.
“Heating assistance for our residents shouldn’t be about politics and old loyalties,” County Executive Chris Abele said in supporting the change in contract.