Hamilton County officials told commissioners on Oct. 28 that a continuing federal government shutdown could interrupt benefits and payments that sustain food access and federally subsidized housing for tens of thousands of county residents.

Michael Patton of Job & Family Services (JFS) said October SNAP benefits already have been issued and "can be used in November" until recipients exhaust their cards, but that "SNAP benefits will not be loaded to cards for the benefit month of November as long as the shutdown continues," based on current guidance from the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services. Patton told commissioners the county has "approximately 97,000 recipients who may be affected by the shutdown," including about 53,000 adults and roughly 43,000 children. He said the county’s average monthly SNAP issuance is around $19,000,000 (about $240,000,000 annually) and that roughly 11,457 recipients are age 65 or older.

Patton urged residents not to rely on social media rumors that October benefits must be used before November, and said the county is still accepting applications and processing recertifications. He described local response tools — the 513relief mobile bus, 2‑1‑1 and county JFS staff — and said the agency will notify the public immediately if state guidance changes.

Kurt Scribe of the Free Store Food Bank described local food‑security capacity and said the food bank is preparing for increased demand. He said Hamilton County has about 275,000 food‑insecure residents, about 82,000 of whom are children, and that roughly half of the food bank’s product supply mix has shifted between donated product, USDA commodity distributions and purchased food in the past year. "We cannot food bank our way out of this situation," Scribe said, urging governments and private donors to provide resources and noting the food bank was exploring whether to increase client shopping from once a month to twice a month in the event of sustained need.

Greg Johnson of the Cincinnati Metropolitan Housing Authority (CMHA) told commissioners that HUD funding interruptions already affected some mixed‑income program payments in October and that public housing subsidies are not slated to be funded past Nov. 15. He said the housing choice voucher program is funded through December but "as of January 1, if this continues to go on, we'll lose $9,300,000," which would reduce payments to more than 3,500 landlords and affect thousands of households; CMHA also reported roughly $2.3 million per month in public housing subsidy reductions and $600,000 monthly shortfalls in preservation and mixed‑income program subsidies if the shutdown continues.

Commissioners pressed presenters on timing, asking how quickly benefits could be loaded if federal funding resumed; Patton said counties use a rolling load schedule tied to the last digit of case numbers and that some states that load all benefits on the first day would face different timing. Commissioners and presenters discussed ripple effects to retailers, farmers markets and small businesses that accept SNAP cards and to vendors and small contractors who receive CMHA payments: CMHA said roughly 770 vendor jobs and 654 units tied to development partners could be placed at risk by funding interruptions.

Commissioners asked administration staff to explore local options, including reallocation of available ARPA funds and working with the state on the possible use of rainy day resources. They also urged the creation of a single, public portal for accurate local information (several speakers referenced 513relief.org and 2‑1‑1) and appealed to private philanthropy to help meet immediate needs while federal and state solutions are pursued.

The board recessed the meeting after the briefings and planned a hallway press availability to allow reporters further questions.