After months of concern over federal funding cuts, local leaders say the impacts are now becoming clear, with San Diego County facing a potential $300 million annual loss affecting affordable housing, health care and access to food, among other things. One of the first visible impacts has been on housing. Just last week, Ryan Clumpner, the vice chair of the San Diego Housing Commission board, told NBC 7 that the commission shut down their wait list for federal Section 8 housing vouchers for the first time, saying the wait had become unrealistic, especially with no new money expected to come from the government any time soon. Clumpner added that some applicants were facing wait times of up to 20 years. Food assistance programs are also seeing increased pressure. CalFresh, California’s version of the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, is among the federally funded programs affected, driving more people to food banks like Feeding San Diego for help. “Since about April, May, we’ve seen a steady increase in people experiencing food hunger across the county,” said Sam Duke, director of programs at Feeding San Diego. Duke said he expects the need to continue growing, especially as San Diego County Supervisor Terra Lawson-Remer warns of significant federal funding losses on the local level compounded by California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s proposed state budget. In an emailed statement, Lawson-Remer said, in part, “San Diego County continues a $300 million annual loss in health care and food assistance funding after the governor’s proposed state budget didn’t include any backfill for deep federal cuts enacted under the Trump administration.” The estimate is based in part on a county analysis presented in late September that detailed how much federal funding would be cut in the San Diego region under what the Trump administration referred to as the One Big Beautiful Bill. Feeding San Diego does not receive federal or state funding, and is privately funded, but, Duke said, there is a trickle-down effect as people struggle to cover basic expenses. “Medical bills, gas, health insurance — and so when they’re having to decide what they’re having to forgo, food is usually the first thing they can skip out on so they come to us to make up that missing component,” Duke said. County supervisors appear divided. Supervisor Joel Anderson responded to Lawson-Remer’s statement, saying, in part, “We continue to monitor new and emerging changes in both the California state and federal budgets. It is far too premature to make drastic statements at this stage in the process with just proposals on the table.” The state budget, which has yet to be finalized, must be passed by the legislature in mid-June to take effect on Jul. 1.  Lawson-Remer said the county has already begun preparing for potential funding losses, including by potentially tapping into reserves and cutting positions.  This story was originally reported for broadcast by NBC San Diego. AI tools helped convert the story to a digital article, and an NBC San Diego journalist edited the article for publication. ...read more read less