The Intelligencer Staff
WHEELING, W.Va. — Wheeling Housing Authority Executive Director Joyce Wolen watched all of Tuesday as organizations like hers and countless others learned about the Trump administration’s freeze on federal grants and loans, which was to go into effect at 5 p.m. Tuesday. U.S. District Judge Loren L. AliKhan issued an administrative stay, pausing the federal freeze until Monday.
Even with that temporary stay, Wolen’s feelings at the end of the day were much like they were at its start — uncertainty and worry. Even as the federal government clarified the scope of the freeze in the later hours of the afternoon — and the stay was granted even later — Wolen wasn’t sure how it would affect the WHA.
“It’s heartbreaking,” she said. “I can’t really say what’s going to happen, because that will depend upon the interpretation of the executive order.”
The freeze on federal grants and loans could pause funding to many groups in the Ohio Valley, from housing authorities to school districts to municipal governments.
And while the temporary stay presses a pause button on that freeze, the uncertainty those organizations face remains.