Mayor Paul Soglin said at a press conference last week the shutdown has not affected Madison or Wisconsin the way it has other states. However, he added that if something is not done soon, residents will be seeing the consequences in the next two to four weeks.
Some are raising concern over how the federal government shutdown is going to affect the Federal Section 8 housing vouchers in particular, according to City Finance Director Dave Schmiedicke.
Federal Section 8 housing vouchers are funds that give support to low income individuals and families. These funds are given so that these people can live in either city or privately owned housing and receive subsidies, Schmiedicke said. The subsidies are typically given to landlords or tenants, he said.
Schmiedicke said the funds Madison has in support of Federal Section 8 housing vouchers from the government may only last through November.
“It appears that we have sufficient funds that we have already received to get us through the end of October and possibly November as well,” Schmiedicke said. “But after that we will run out of the funding we received from the federal government for this program.”
Soglin said the Department of Housing and Urban Development may also not be able to honor all of the funding from block grants until the government reopens. Agencies in Madison that expect to be paid will not receive what they are owed, he said.
“[The agencies] are going to be in jeopardy of continuing their services. Their employees will not be paid, they will not be able to make rent [or] utility payments and that can start a whole series of cascading consequences that will not help our community,” Soglin said.
Soglin also said the federal government shutdown will affect low income individuals that utilize public services in Madison the most.
Schmiedicke and Soglin both cited the Women, Infants and Children program, which provides low income women with supplemental foods, health care referrals and nutrition education, as one of the programs expected to suffer the most.
While WIC is not a program the city administers, it is important for the health and well-being of women and children that live in Madison, Soglin said.
Soglin added Head Start, the program which provides education, health nutrition and parent involvement services to low income children and families, has shut down in other states. While the program is still fully operating in Madison, the city could find itself in a similar situation in the coming weeks.
Schmiedicke said the public may not be able to detect the effects of the shutdown on Madison yet, but they are still there.
“More broadly, there could be an effect on the local economy, the university and how much money they are getting for research grants,” Schmiedicke said. “And that could in turn affect start up companies and a whole bunch of other things as well.”
