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During the past week, President Trump’s administration issued an executive order to freeze all federal grants and issued an offer to all federal workers to voluntarily resign from their jobs with eight months’ pay in order to shrink the government.
These memoranda sent shockwaves through the country and have the potential to impact an already depressed housing market while setting the goalposts back further for safe, affordable and equitable housing for many Americans.
U.S. District Judge Loren L. AliKhan stepped in, and, within 24 hours, the administration rescinded the order, as federal employee unions stepped in to address the mass severance offer package.
(Editor’s note: White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt has since said OMB’s Wednesday memo rescinds the initial memo, not the freeze. It’s unclear if or when the freeze will happen, barring a court order pausing the freeze until Feb. 3.)
Although it’s not uncommon for new presidential administrations to order a review of federal spending when a new administration takes the helm, what is unprecedented is the application and intention of this specific review, which imposes a vague but seemingly blanket freeze of essential funds that households depend on for survival.
In this article, let’s break down specific areas in which these two orders are poised to impact the economy, housing and safety for many households.
Unclear path forward
Non-profit organizations nationwide that depend on grant funding to provide services to fill the gap that private, state and federal organizations cannot cover seem to be at the most risk for future…