The Capital Area Food Bank in Washington is preparing for the influx of people who may require its assistance before to the holiday season due to the combination of the longest government shutdown, the widespread layoffs of government employees, and a new reduction in federal food aid.
Serving 400 pantries and relief organizations in the District of Columbia, northern Virginia, and two counties in Maryland, the food bank is serving 8 million extra meals this fiscal year a roughly 20% increase.
The group's president and CEO, Radha Muthiah, stated that the city is being hit "especially hard" "because of the sequence of events that have occurred over the course of this year."
The Trump administration has made a number of actions that have severely damaged the nation's capital, including the continued law enforcement intrusion in the district and the layoffs of government employees. The economic damage is being exacerbated by the shutdown's additional blow, which has put workers on furlough and halted funding for food aid.
Workforce changes since the shutdown that started on October 1 are not included in the most recent data from the D.C. Office of Revenue Analysis. However, even the September jobs report reveals that the seasonally adjusted unemployment rate has been the highest in the country for months, hovering over 6% as opposed to the most recent national number of 4.3%.
It seems that the economic problems are having an impact on politics. After emphasising the impact of President Donald Trump's policies on the state's economy during her campaign, Democrat Abigail Spanberger was elected governor of Virginia on Tuesday.
Experts predict that the shutdown will have a lasting effect on the local economy long after the government reopens. Local companies are struggling. Approximately 150,000 federal employees reside in Washington, which has the highest percentage of federal employees in the nation (20%, according to official statistics).
Due to the closure, hundreds of thousands of government employees nationwide will have missed at least two full paychecks by Monday. According to the Bipartisan Policy Center, at least 670,000 federal employees are on furlough nationwide, and roughly 730,000 are working unpaid.
Compared to September ridership, the number of federal employees using Washington's transportation system on weekdays has decreased by almost 25% during the closure.
At a time when owners had anticipated for a recovery, restaurants that the Restaurant Association of Greater Washington claims were already struggling with low margins due to seasonal decreases and the repercussions from Trump's deployment of armed National Guard personnel on city streets are now suffering extra difficulties.
According to Tracy Hadden Loh, a fellow at the think tank Brookings Metro, federal employees are experiencing serious cash flow problems as a result of not getting paid, which might result in mortgage and student loan defaults.
It might worsen the effects for local companies, particularly those that depend on the discretionary spending of government employees during the October–December quarter when sales are at their peak.
"A lot of businesses rely on higher spending in Q4 in order to have a revenue positive year," Loh stated. The loss of such expenditure is being felt by small firms.
The Queen Vic, a tavern in Northeast Washington, would have had standing space only for the audience watching Liverpool's Premier League match last weekend. However, according to Ryan Gordon, co-owner of the British bar, that was untrue.
"We still had seats for people, which means the bars around us who get our overflow got nothing," Gordon stated. According to him, business has decreased by almost 50% since the shutdown. Because he owns the property and does not have to pay rent, he views himself as fortunate in the local restaurant scene.
"To the extent to which discretionary spending by D.C. area households is limited, that could push a lot of local businesses into the red," Loh stated. Households that have never sought assistance before are suffering greatly as a result of the shutdown, the reduction in SNAP payments, and the layoffs, she continued.
A family is forced to leave the area In March of this year, Thea Price was let go from her position at the U.S. Institute of Peace as part of a wave of layoffs intended to reduce the size of the federal government. Her spouse, a federal contractor, was laid off from a museum as well. They have relied on savings, Medicaid, and SNAP ever since.
Price, 37, just made his first visit to a food bank in Arlington, Virginia. After it took her months to receive SNAP, the shutdown stopped funding, and she would no longer receive the $500 monthly instalments.
Price claimed that although Virginia sent a partial payment, it was insufficient. Price is returning to her hometown in the Seattle area because she is running out of choices to support her family.
"We can't afford to stay in the area any longer and hope that something might pan out," she stated. "We're just in a much different place than when these things started in March."
Forklifts raced around in controlled chaos at the Capital Area Food Bank in Northeast Washington, unloading trucks, transporting food, and getting ready for a distribution set up for federal employees and contractors.
With the holiday season approaching, preparations are getting more intense. This month, the organization plans to serve one million more meals than it had projected prior to the shutdown.
The group's director, Muthiah, stated, "We're very focused obviously on the immediacy of all of these impacts today and getting food to those who need it."
However, she warned that the current crisis will have long term effects, with individuals using their retirement and savings accounts to make ends meet. "People are borrowing against their futures to be able to pay for basic necessities today," she stated.
