An advocacy group for low-income residents in Greater Boston said Tuesday that the ongoing partial government shutdown is taking a devastating toll on millions of Americans who depend on federal food and housing aid.
In a statement, Action Boston for Community Development, or ABCD, said the shutdown has hit the nation’s most vulnerable residents with “life-threatening hunger and hardship, with funding running out for food stamps, tax refunds/credits, WIC, school lunches, and Section 8 and other subsidized housing programs.”
According to ABCD, millions of the approximately 39 million Americans who depend on food stamps to survive are already losing their benefits. The SNAP food stamp program will run out of funds by February, the release said, but “right now many grocery stores across the nation are reporting that ‘EBT’ cards issued to SNAP recipients are not being accepted in their online systems — it seems the government has already shut them down.”
