Montana Utility, Rent, and Clothing Help for Grandparents Raising Grandchildren

When a grandchild moves in, your utility bills go up, your grocery bill spikes, and suddenly you need school supplies, winter coats, and clothes in sizes you have not bought in decades. Montana has several programs that help with these specific costs — most of them administered through regional agencies rather than DPHHS, which is why many kinship caregivers never hear about them.

Utility Assistance: LIHEAP

The Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) helps pay heating and cooling costs for low-income households. Montana's long winters make this one of the most valuable programs for grandparents on fixed incomes who suddenly have a larger household.

LIHEAP is administered through Montana's 10 regional Human Resource Development Councils (HRDCs). Eligibility is income-based, and the income limits are generous enough that many Social Security households qualify. The program can pay a portion of your heating bill directly to the utility company.

Apply at your local HRDC office. The program opens each fall (usually October) and runs until funds are exhausted, so applying early in the heating season improves your chances. Call Montana 211 or the MTKNP helpline (1-888-445-3395) to find the HRDC serving your county.

Emergency Rental Assistance

If adding a child to your household strains your housing budget — or if you need to move to a larger place — HRDCs also manage emergency rental assistance programs. These are typically one-time or short-term payments that help cover rent, security deposits, or past-due balances that could lead to eviction.

Eligibility varies by region and funding availability. Some HRDCs have dedicated kinship or family support funds; others draw from general emergency assistance pools. The waiting lists can be long in urban areas like Billings and Missoula, but smaller communities sometimes have funds available year-round.

Weatherization

If your home is poorly insulated or your furnace is aging, HRDC weatherization programs provide free improvements — insulation, window sealing, furnace repair or replacement, and other energy-efficiency upgrades. These are not loans; the work is done at no cost to qualifying households. Reducing your monthly energy bill by even $50 makes a real difference when you are stretching a fixed income to cover a child's needs.

Back-to-School and Clothing Help

Montana does not have a statewide clothing allowance specifically for kinship children, but several sources fill that gap:

• Local nonprofits and churches: many communities run back-to-school supply drives and clothing closets. The Salvation Army, Goodwill, and community food banks often coordinate these efforts in late summer.
• School district resources: some districts maintain emergency funds for students who need clothing, shoes, or school supplies. Ask the school counselor or the McKinney-Vento liaison (if the child qualifies as homeless or in transition under federal law, additional support is available).
• MSU Extension programs: County Extension offices sometimes coordinate youth clothing and school readiness events.
• Tribal social services: on reservations, tribal social services departments may provide clothing vouchers or back-to-school kits.

If the child is receiving TANF child-only benefits, the monthly grant ($425 for one child) is intended to cover the child's basic needs including clothing. There is no separate clothing line item, but the cash is unrestricted.

SUN Bucks (Summer EBT)

Montana participates in the federal Summer EBT program, which provides a grocery benefit card to school-age children during summer months. Children who are directly certified for free school meals during the school year — including children on TANF or SNAP — automatically receive SUN Bucks. This helps cover the food gap when school breakfast and lunch programs are not running.

Coordinating Multiple Sources of Help

The practical challenge is that these programs are scattered across different agencies — HRDCs for utility and housing, school districts for supplies, nonprofits for clothing, DPHHS for TANF and SNAP. Start with the Montana Kinship Navigator Program (1-888-445-3395), which maintains referral relationships with all of these and can match you to the programs available in your specific county.

The Montana Kinship Financial Help Guide brings every program — from TANF cash to HRDC emergency funds — into one reference with application steps and contact information, so you can work through them in order without missing anything.

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