Government shutdown won’t halt housing aid in Winnebago and Boone counties

ROCKFORD, Ill. (WTVO) — Housing assistance funds in Winnebago and Boone counties will remain available during the months of November and December, even in the event of a prolonged government shutdown, the agencies announced Monday.

“We’ve learned that, should the government shutdown continue, HUD had made arrangements for the November and December 2025 housing assistance funds to be available to housing authorities. We will be able to pay landlords, as normal, for these months,” the Winnebago County Housing Authority said.

The Winnebago County Housing Authority also administers programs for Boone County, providing money to support affordable housing opportunities.

As of Monday, the U.S. government has been shut down for 13 days as the U.S. legislature finds itself unable to reach a deal.

“We’re barreling toward one of the longest shutdowns in American history,” said Republican Speaker Mike Johnson.

With no endgame in sight, the shutdown is expected to roll on for the foreseeable future. The closure has halted routine government operations, shuttered Smithsonian museums and other landmark cultural institutions, and left airports scrambling with flight disruptions, all injecting more uncertainty into an already precarious economy.

Johnson thanked President Donald Trump for ensuring military personnel are paid this week, which removed one main pressure point that may have pushed the parties to the negotiating table.

At its core, the shutdown is a debate over health care policy — and particularly the Affordable Care Act subsidies that are expiring for millions of Americans who rely on government aid to purchase their own health insurance policies on the Obamacare exchanges. Democrats demand that the subsidies be extended; Republicans argue that the issue can be dealt with later.

With Congress and the White House stalemated, some are eyeing the end of the month as the next potential deadline to reopen the government.

The Republican speaker insists his party has been willing to discuss the health care issue with Democrats this fall, before the subsidies expire at the end of the year. But first, he said, Democrats have to agree to reopen the government.

The longest shutdown, during Trump’s first term over his demands for funds to build the U.S.-Mexico border wall, ended in 2019 after 35 days.

Meanwhile, the Trump administration is exercising vast leeway both to fire workers — drawing complaints from fellow Republicans and lawsuits from employee unions — and to determine who is paid.

The Congressional Budget Office had cited the Department of Defense, the Department of the Treasury, the Department of Homeland Security, and the Office of Management and Budget as among those that received specific funds under the law.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.