Ben Miksch, State and Federal Policy Associate

No last-minute deal came together, and so the automatic, across-the-board cuts to all government programs begin today. King County Housing Authority announced it has suspended issuing Section 8 vouchers, and we're scared to see how the cuts will play out across Washington.

The next brinksmanship deadline is March 27, when the current budget funding the government expires and they either pass a new one or shut the whole government down. The sequestration cuts can still be halted or even reversed, so the fight to protect affordable housing and anti-homelessness programs continues.

This is an extremely bad time to be cutting our programs. Two reports just came out showing just how bad of a time. The National Low Income Housing Coalition released their latest analysis of the growing affordable housing gap in the country, and Washington was below the national average. For every 100 extremely low income households, there were only 27 affordable and available units. And for every 100 very low-income households, there were only 55 affordable units, putting us below the national average. You can read about it here. On a similar note, HUD released Worst Case Housing Needs 2011: A Summary Report to Congress. The report showed a 43 percent increase in worst case housing needs since 2007. It's on HUD's website here.

One piece of good news on the national front, the House of Representatives ended a multi-month standoff and passed the Senate's version of the Violence Against Women Act. The bill is now on its way to the President for his signature. This is great news for protecting survivors of domestic violence, and includes some important housing provisions for survivors as well. It's nice to see Congress finally getting along and accomplishing something really important.

Photo Credits: Pak Gwei and Elvert Barnes