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As of midnight, October 1st, the U.S. House and Senate had not agreed on a budget, and the federal government is now implementing a partial shut down for the first time since 1995-1996. Forbes listed Dayton as one of the top ten cities at risk during a government shutdown. WYSO is providing ongoing coverage of how the shutdown is affecting Miami Valley businesses and residents.

Affordable Housing Agency: Extended Shutdown Could Impact Housing Developments

Architect of the Capitol
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United States Congress, Washington www.aoc.gov
Capitol at Dawn May 20, 2014

Dayton housing officials say the government shutdown has stalled critical affordable housing development in the city.

Among the federal agencies closed by the shutdown is the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, the agency that distributes funds for states' low-income housing programs, including the rental voucher program commonly known as Section 8. 

“We are feeling the effects because we are just kind of in limbo. Some of our deals, they're held up, we can't close them because we're waiting for HUD staff to return to work. And so we're concerned about how that would affect our future ability to attract equity investors and new affordable housing projects,” says Greater Dayton Premier Management Vice President of Strategic Development Kiya Patrick.

Patrick says HUD program funding currently runs through February, and tenants in Dayton's 2,700 public housing, or low-income voucher, units are not yet being affected because landlords are still being paid.

But if the shutdown continues into March, Patrick says, it could affect financing for new housing developments. The agency currently has more than 100 units of new affordable housing moving through the approval process.

Jess Mador comes to WYSO from Knoxville NPR-station WUOT, where she created an interactive multimedia health storytelling project called TruckBeat, one of 15 projects around the country participating in AIR's Localore: #Finding America initiative. Before TruckBeat, Jess was an independent public radio journalist based in Minneapolis. She’s also worked as a staff reporter and producer at Minnesota Public Radio in the Twin Cities, and produced audio, video and web stories for a variety of other news outlets, including NPR News, APM, and PBS television stations. She has a Master's degree from the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism in New York. She loves making documentaries and telling stories at the intersection of journalism, digital and social media.
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