City says federal-grants tabletop showed big risks to health and housing services; urges cross-sector working group

City staff and 34 partner agencies convened a federal grants tabletop in December to model the effects of significant reductions to federal grant funding and changes to program eligibility, and staff told the City Council the exercise highlighted major risks to health, housing and food-access systems.

"This tabletop exercise was held in December and included participation from 34 outside agencies," said Justina Tate, interim assistant city manager, who reviewed the exercise results for council. The tabletop ran two scenarios: a 50% reduction in city- received federal grants and a 50% reduction to certain community-wide grants plus potential eligibility changes under reconciliation (Medicare, Medicaid, CHIP, SNAP, ACA).

Participants identified immediate disruptions if large cuts occured: food banks said reduced WIC and food-assistance funding could force rationing; health partners warned that reduced clinical services would strain hospital bed capacity if staffing cannot be sustained; and shelter and housing partners said social-service networks operating near capacity would struggle to absorb sudden demand increases.

Tate said the exercise pointed to clear next steps: prioritize funding that protects the most vulnerable, ensure unified public messaging to reduce confusion, improve cross-sector coordination, and develop shared data and referral tools. She recommended creating a cross-sector federal funding impact working group with subgroups focused on health, housing and youth.

For context, Tate told council the city’s budget includes about $153 million in federal grant funding supporting roughly 663 positions; the tabletop focused on grants for health, housing, homeless and human services that together represent about $85.7 million and fund approximately 436 positions.

Council members asked whether the tabletop considered impacts to core services such as police or public works; staff said the exercise concentrated on social-service grants but staff would flag any directly affected core-service grants (noting the COPS grant and a Homeland Security grant as examples under review).

Why it matters: staff said many nonprofit and governmental partners lack spare capacity to fill large gaps and that proactive coordination, training on federal rule changes, and private-philanthropic partnerships could reduce immediate harms if federal funding is reduced.

What’s next: staff proposed starting the working group, pursuing shared data tools and exploring philanthropic and private-sector engagement to shore up critical services if cuts materialize. Tate said there are currently no changes to the city’s grant funds, which are funded through Sept. 30, 2026 under the appropriations enacted so far.

Attribution: this article is based on the tabletop exercise presentation to City Council by Justina Tate on Feb. 18.