Ben Miksch, State and Federal Policy Associate

The government shutdown is a travesty.

And the impact it has had on affordable housing and homelessness programs at the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) is just one part of the unnecessary pain and hardship it's causing for people -- especially low income people -- all across our country.

The shutdown is bad enough on its own. But looming behind the shutdown is the almost unimaginable catastrophe of what happens if we fail to raise the debt ceiling in the next few days. According to the U.S. Treasury Department, defaulting on our debt would lead to "a financial crisis and recession that could echo the events of 2008 or worse." For more information on the debt ceiling, check out Everything You Need to Know About the Debt Ceiling, by Brad Plumer at The Washington Post.

Many have likened the situation to a hostage negotiation, and I think that's a good metaphor. Certain lawmakers demand that we either shrink the government and repeal the Affordable Care Act, or the government stays closed and stops paying its bills.

We know good government does good for people in our country. It's as simple as that. We see this every day when families are offered a stable place to live thanks to a Housing Choice Voucher. Another example is when homeless veterans get access to supportive services and return to housing stability. Or how about the thousands and thousands of other examples of programs that create opportunities for people to live in safe, healthy, affordable homes?

And the Affordable Care Act is going to accomplish a tremendous amount of good for people in need in our country as well. In Washington State alone, we expect that Medicaid Expansion will mean more than 300,000 low-income people being eligible for health insurance for the first time starting on January 1, 2014. This is a very important piece of legislation that will have a big impact on homelessness, and even the idea of repealing it is almost too terrible to contemplate.

I don't know what happens next. Today's news brings reports that Congress may decide to push this issue out for a few weeks or even months and have another crisis again in January. But even as our lawmakers lurch us from one crisis to the next, the efforts to reduce and eliminate the federal government's role in ensuring a strong safety net connecting Americans to opportunities have steadily resulted in deeper and deeper cuts each year.

What I do know is that this fight isn't over. There are still very different possibilities for what a final budget deal could look like, from Senator Patty Murray's plan to undo sequestration and restore cuts to the safety net to Chairman Paul Ryan's newest plans to enact even deeper cuts to the programs we care about than he's proposed in the past.

Image Unfortunately, access to affordable homes is shut down too.   Photo Credit: Marc Kummel

And that means our job as advocates to educate our elected officials and fight for the programs that end homelessness and build affordable housing is more important than ever. We'll be looking for key advocacy opportunities and sharing them through our email alerts and on this blog, so keep an eye out for chances to make yourself heard. And as always, feel free to contact us directly if you have any questions about how things will work (or not work) or about ways the Housing Alliance can assist in your advocacy.