Syracuse, like nearly every city in the country, has felt the effects of the federal shutdown as nine departments remain unfunded during the longest partial government shutdown in the nation’s history.

Thousands of Syracuse residents rely on mostly-shuttered departments for food stamps and housing vouchers. Both types of assistance are being continued through February, but it is unclear how they would be impacted if the shutdown, which began on Dec. 22, 2018, continues for months. With one in three Syracuse families living in poverty, city residents would be at significant risk.

The Department of Agriculture, where 75 percent of employees have been sent home without pay, per the Washington Post, runs the federal government’s food stamp program, officially called the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. Most people on food stamps were given their SNAP benefits for February early because of the shutdown, per the New York State Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance. In October 2018, a total of 35,416 families in Onondaga County received SNAP benefits, according to data from New York state.

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At the Department of Housing and Urban Development, 95 percent of workers were furloughed, according to the Washington Post. HUD, which has an office in Syracuse, funds the Housing Choice Voucher Program, commonly known as Section 8, for low-income families, senior citizens and people with disabilities.

The non-profit organization Christopher Community runs the Housing Choice Voucher Program for Onondaga County. Dave Filipski, its acting president, said the organization has received funding from HUD for January and expects to receive funding for February as well.

“Beyond that I am not sure,” he said.

In December, Christopher Community received 1,120 vouchers from HUD through a program that allows families to find their own housing, Filipski said. Contingency plans from HUD state that public housing agencies can use funds appropriated for prior years for housing voucher programs, but Filipski said he isn’t sure how that would work.

“We operate under housing assistance payment contracts,” he said. “The only concern we have is that if any of these contracts come up for renewal during this period … How’s that going to affect our funding? We’re not sure.”

The SNAP program is still running, but the USDA has been unable to run other major operations since the shutdown.

Elizabeth Wolters, deputy policy director at the New York Farm Bureau, said farmers across the state have been particularly burdened by the closure of the USDA’s Farm Service Agency. Farmers use FSA offices to apply for federal loans and crop insurance programs, as well as get advice on plantings, among other things, she said.  Two FSA offices are located in Onondaga County, but both are currently closed.

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Wolters said farmers across New York have been suffering from President Donald Trump’s trade war with China, and now they are unable to apply for federal assistance if they haven’t already. When Trump raised tariffs on imported Chinese steel, China responded with retaliatory tariffs on soy and corn, which is New York’s largest agricultural product after milk.

Since most of that soy and corn is used for cattle, Wolters said dairy farmers have also been hurt by the tariffs. Onondaga County ranks 10th among New York’s 62 counties for acres of soybean farms and 10th in acres of corn for silage, which is used for feeding cattle, according to data from the USDA’s Census for Agriculture.

In addition to HUD and USDA, the Departments of Commerce, Homeland Security, Justice, State, Transportation, the Interior and the Treasury have all furloughed workers or required them to work without pay. About 800,000 federal workers deemed as essential have been working without pay. The IRS and the Small Business Administration are two furloughed agencies that have offices in Syracuse.

The Transportation Security Administration, part of Homeland Security, is operating while TSA agents have not been paid. TSA is responsible for performing security checks at airports. Some large airports have experienced delays and closures as TSA agents called out sick or quit at high rates, CNBC reported.

Syracuse is home to central New York’s main airport, the Syracuse Hancock International Airport. Bart Johnson, TSA federal security director for upstate New York, said operations at the state’s airports haven’t been affected “at all” by the shutdown. The number of agents calling out sick or quitting isn’t higher than during normal times, he said.

“Everybody is showing up to work, they know the mission,” Johnson said. “They’re professionals, and they know what they need to do.”

The Food Bank of Central New York is trying to reach out to federal workers who are going without pay, said Kathleen Stress, executive director of the food bank.

Like any person the food bank supports, federal workers can receive three meals a day for each person in their household at a food pantry or soup kitchen, Stress said. Other programs available include a food buying club to help supplement any grocery gaps, as well as mobile food pantries that give out perishables and certain dairy and protein items.

“We’re trying to let any local federal worker know that they are services able to help them make ends meet while they’re waiting to see if their paycheck is going to come through,” Stress said.

Published on January 16, 2019 at 11:27 pm

Contact Casey: casey@dailyorange.com | @caseydarnell_