The agency that administers federal funding for housing assistance and other services to impoverished Warren County residents is mostly insulated from a government shutdown — for now.North East Community Action Corporation (NECAC) takes in federal money that it uses to assist low-income families in 12 counties with their rent payments. It also receives funding for other programs that assist low income communities and homeowners.The federal government entered into a partial shutdown Dec. 21, after President Donald Trump said he would not sign a funding bill without $5 billion for a Mexican border wall, and Democrats refused to meet his demand. However, some agencies were already funded for the year thanks to earlier agreements, the Associated Press reported.A NECAC representative said most of the agency’s funding from the federal government has already been secured for the time being.“Even though HUD (the Department of Housing and Urban Development) is technically on the list of agencies shut down, it has the funding to continue for the time being,” said Brent Engel, NECAC’s public relations officer. “Right now, most of the funding which NECAC gets is not affected.”If the federal shutdown continues for a long time, Engel said NECAC might be more at risk of being impacted.One area that NECAC is seeing a cutback, Engel said, is in money that comes from a different federal agency, the Department of Agriculture. USDA offers loans and grants as part of its Rural Development program. Engel said that money has been greatly reduced or stopped, although most of those impacted are outside Warren County.“We have a couple that’s in limbo now because they’re in the loan process now and want to complete it, but can’t because USDA is not processing those loans,” Engel said.NECAC