When the Tower Comes Crumbling Down

Image by Sheila Sund via Wikimedia Commons

This piece originally appeared on Fran Quigley’s blog Housing Is A Human Right on January 2, 2026.

Last month, Peggy Bailey, executive vice president of the invaluable Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, shared an article on X/Twitter. She introduced the article as follows:

We silo families’ basic needs into specific programs & gov’t agencies but this isn’t how they work for the family in need. For them, federal help is like the middle pieces of a Jenga tower. Take away one form of assistance & the families’ household budget comes crumbling down.

The message reminded me of Mr. and Mrs. Finnell (not their real name), who we had met a few weeks earlier in eviction court. The Finnells are in their 60’s. The last year has been a real struggle.

First, Mr. Finnell lost his job due to his worsening disability, and Social Security checks were not yet coming in for him. The couple was forced to use virtually all of Ms. Finnell’s small monthly Social Security check to pay their rent. With no other income, they relied on SNAP, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program aka Food Stamps, to put food on the table.

Then, the Trump Administration refused to distribute November SNAP benefits during the government shutdown. (See, “Starving Americans to Secure Submission.”)

By mid-November, SNAP benefits were restored for most households. But, for the Finnells, it was too late. They were forced to use part of Ms. Finnell’s November Social Security check to get much-needed food into the house. They had missed their rent payment.

The precarious financial balance that Peggy Bailey referenced, that so many households like the Finnells maintain, had finally come crumbling down.

The Finnells had never faced eviction before. Mr. Finnell wore a dark suit and tie to court, Ms. Finnell a subdued print dress and heels. They spoke quietly. Everything about them exuded dignity in a setting where that can be hard to come by.

But they had no idea where they would go after being evicted. And they could not hide their fear.

Skipping Meals, Going Without Medicine

The Finnells were not alone. Peggy Bailey’s tweet was sharing an article from the Oklahoma non-profit news site The Frontier, “After Food Aid Vanished, Calls For Rent Help Surged And Some Faced Eviction.” The article reported the ripple effects of Trump’s cynical ploy:

Families were suddenly forced to choose between paying rent or buying food, the survey found. More than half of those surveyed reported skipping meals and 30% said they forgoed medicine and medical treatment to afford rent. One mother included in the survey who lost her SNAP benefits said she couldn’t make rent because she needed to purchase formula for her six-month-old daughter.

More than half of the surveyed Oklahoma County tenants facing eviction had been receiving SNAP benefits. Of those households, 73% attributed their eviction to the loss or delay in those benefits.

The Finnells’ troubles are just the latest variation in a story we hear from eviction court clients all the time. Most of our clients were making ends meet just barely until . . . A sick child who needed a parent’s care meant missed work time and a lower paycheck. Recertification glitches for Medicaid or SNAP led to the rent money going to medicine or food. A used car sold “as-is”—with payments still owed—broke down, and they failed to get to work on time.

That is why housing advocates are also nutrition advocates, healthcare-for-all advocates, and living-wage advocates. And this is why it is heartening to see, as 2026 begins, an increased focus by politicians on ensuring affordability of life’s basic necessities.

Because, as the Finnells learned, any missing piece pulled out of a precarious Jenga tower—or a poverty-household budget-- will send everything to pieces.