After Agustina Soza’s husband was deported to Mexico, she found herself in a position she never thought she would be as a single mother supporting her seven young children.
If not for her local church, which provides resources through Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston, Soza, a U.S. citizen, is unsure how she could make ends meet.
Soza’s weekly visits to the Guadalupe Center pantry and frequent trips to the organization’s bimonthly food fair allow her to stock up on groceries โ particularly fresh vegetables and milk for her five-month-old baby โ she wouldn’t otherwise be able to afford.
This assistance and federally funded programs that Soza participates in, such as the Special Nutrition Assistance Program for Women, Infants, and Children, allow her to keep meals on the table for her older kids, who are between three and 13 years old.
Amid a looming federal government shutdown that could put these programs at risk, more Houston residents are expected to lean on local nonprofits to avoid losing access to food.
โIf the government shuts down, where am I going to be getting food for my kids? Everything is expensive. A lot of people โ sometimes we โ canโt even afford to eat,โ Soza said.
Monica Perez, the vice president of family support services at Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houstonย said the organization is anticipating an influx of those needing assistance if residents enrolled in WIC or SNAP โ which provide monthly funds to help purchase their household groceries โ are not receiving their benefits.
โWeโre talking about expecting mothers, mothers and their small children,โ Perez said. โSo, we want to ensure that our pantries are stocked well enough so they can come and use them.โ
WIC offers healthy food, nutritional information and other resources to low-income pregnant and breastfeeding women and children under five years old. Nearly 800,000 recipients in Texas could lose this assistance if the U.S. Department of Agricultureโs contingency funds dry up, leaving the state to rely on reserves to provide these services.
According to a spokeswoman for Texas Health and Human Services, Texas has the funding to continue operating WIC until the end of October. However, this is if the USDA authorizes the state’s ability to use these funds. SNAP, or the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, will also operate regularly through the end of October as it has sufficient funding.
However, Katherine Byers, government relations officer with the Houston Food Bank, said that come November, these programs could be under real threat if Congress hasnโt passed the legislation needed to halt what would then be a months-long shutdown.
โWhile applications and things of that nature are processed at that state level, and the state has to put up administrative funds, the benefits are from federal dollars, and the USDA is only required to send out benefits for 30 days after a shutdown begins,โ Byers said.
To avoid a shutdown, the U.S. House of Representatives would either pass all 12 of the annual appropriations bills or approve a stopgap spending bill referred to as a โcontinuing resolutionโ by Saturday to keep the government funded through mid-November.
However, a group of hardline right Republicans in the House, who have successfully legislation blocked they oppose because of spending increases, have said that they wouldnโt approve a stopgap measure that didnโt cut federal expenditures, according to reports.
โIn a way, we shouldnโt even be here, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, the White House and Senate agreed to a framework for spending,โ Brandon Rottinghaus, University of Houston political science professor, said. โThey were supposed to produce a continuing resolution that was then going to fund the government until they could pass all the spending bills, but the far right had different ideas.โ
Byers said the โassumptionโ from some members of Congress that food banks and organizations can fill the gaps that a shortfall in funding to these programs would create alone is not accurate.
โWe canโt โ weโve never been meant to meet all of a familyโs nutritional needs,โ she said. โWe can supplement their plate โ we can make sure they donโt go hungry โ but they will still struggle with food insecurity.โ
According to Byers, for every meal the Houston Food Bank can provide, SNAP can provide nine, and this is with the program only allocating $6 per person daily โ which she said is already inadequate to meet nutritional needs.
Rottinghaus said Houston is hit “particularly hard” in government shutdowns as the city is home to government programs such as NASA. Federal projects and activities deemed nonessential stop, which leaves many local federal employees furloughed.
Social security, Medicare and Medicaid will continue, Rottinghaus said; however, passport renewals, food assistance program funds, verification for Medicaid and veteran benefits could all see delays.
Mary Vazquez, vice president of community outreach at United Way of Greater Houston, said the expected increase of those seeking aid could significantly affect small organizations that receive a majority of funds from the government.
A shutdown could delay payments to these nonprofits, resulting in cash flow challenges.
Vazquez said larger organizations that operate with less federal dollars would likely have reserves that they could use to stay afloat until they could draw down their next payment.
Nonprofits are looking for indicators of how long the shutdown could last to anticipate food security needs and more extensive financial assistance, such as help with rent and utilities.
Especially as, according to Vazquez, they could see an influx of federal employees who are not receiving their paychecks requesting these services. This occurred during the last government shutdown in 2018.
“If history is any judge, we are likely to see this last for at least a few days, if not several weeks,” Rottinghaus said. “If it goes on for any longer, it could be a real problem.”
Soza said she has been posting information about the servicesย Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston provide her on a Facebook group chat that she is a part of called “Mamas Latinas” for those who may need help like her but don’t know where to get it.
She is worried about the situation that the shutdown could put her family in. Like the last eight years, Soza plans to rely on the nonprofit, “It helps, believe me, if not for the help, I don’t know where I would be,” she said.
For more information about WIC, SNAP or other assistance-based services:
รขยย 211 Texas United Way helpline
รขยย Catholic Charities
รขยย Houston Food Bank Helpline 832-369-9390
Texas Health and Human Services: What to Know
Current Status of WIC:
รขยย Texas WIC clients can continue to use their WIC card at the grocery store and attend WIC appointments
If shutdown occurs:
รขยย WIC will remain open through October 31
รขยย WIC participants would be notified in advance of October 31 of any changes or termination of their WIC benefit
รขยย Residents who could not receive any WIC or SNAP benefits for the entirety of the shutdown would include those who were applying for aid or had issues with processing their applications.
Current Status of SNAP:
รขยย SNAP has sufficient funding through October 31
This article appears in Jan 1 โ Dec 31, 2023.
