Food stamps, housing subsidies and other services for America's poor at risk as shutdown drags on

As the partial government shutdown continues into its third week, the impacts are falling hardest on those who can afford it the least. At risk: food on the table for millions of vulnerable households, rental assistance and other safety net programs.

Trump last week threatened to keep the government partially closed for months, even years, if the impasse over the border wall continues. Under criticism, the Trump administration this week moved to shore up one of the most important pillars of the social safety net, the food stamp program, which benefits 38 million Americans and whose funding was due to run out at the end of January.

Federal funding has also been shut off for Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), for 3.4 million of the poorest Americans, the majority of whom are children.
Feb. 1, nearly 270,000 rural families who receive federal rent subsidies through the Agriculture Department would also be at risk of eviction because their landlords would no longer be paid. An additional 2.2 million low-income households receiving rent assistance could be put in jeopardy in March when funding for the Section 8 voucher program runs out.

State and local public housing agencies would also stop receiving money to operate more than 1 million public housing units in March.
The risk of eviction for low-income tenants grows the longer the government remains closed, say housing advocates.

“The longer the shutdown continues, the more the lowest income people will be hard hit,” said Diane Yentel, president of the National Low Income Housing Coalition. “If we get to March, we’re going to be looking at a significant number of evictions.”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/food-stamps-housing-subsidies-and-other-services-for-vulnerable-americans-in-jeopardy-as-shutdown-drags-on/2019/01/09/e025549c-1374-11e9-803c-4ef28312c8b9_story.html?utm_term=.214d8bc5cffb