North Central Indiana Housing Authority continues work despite shutdown

North Central Indiana Housing Authority, which oversees federal housing programs in Warsaw and other nearby areas, is offering assurance that services are not in danger while the partial federal government shutdown continues.

Pam Kennedy, executive director of Warsaw Housing Authority, which oversees services for several jurisdictions, said they’ve been asked about the impact the shutdown might have on local programs.

People are asking if their housing assistance and utility assistance will still be paid, she said.

“The answer is yes,” Kennedy said in a news release.

North Central Indiana Housing administers housing assistance with HUD funding for the cities of Warsaw and Goshen and Kosciusko, Marshall and Fulton counties.

“We want to assure participating landlords and families that rent checks and utility checks will go out the first of the month,” Kennedy said.

“HUD has a contingency plan in place for the programs that they fund for possible lapses in appropriations that can occur with a government shut down,” she said.

She said Housing Authority employees are not federal employees and, as a result, will continue to be open from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., doing a range of normal tasks.

The shutdown has 983 of the HUD employees still working on any given day out of the 7,497.

“We appreciate the dedication of these federal employees that are at their offices to ensure that families are in safe, affordable and warm housing as the winter season is in full swing,” the release states.

The shutdown entered its 30th day today as President Donald Trump and Democrats remain at odds over the president’s proposal to spend more than $5 billion on funding for part of a wall on the nation’s southern border.