Trump administration suggests broke workers pay rent with manual labor during the shutdown

The Trump administration has some advice for government workers living through the holidays without a paycheck during the government shutdown: instead of paying rent, offer to paint.

As President Donald Trump digs in his heels on funding the border wall and lawmakers trickle back into Washington, there’s still no resolution to the budget impasse in sight.

Government workers, meanwhile, are struggling to pay their bills, and the government has some advice for them: If your landlord is bugging you about paying rent that you don’t have because you don’t have a paycheck, offer to do manual labor instead.

The Office of Personnel Management, the agency that essentially functions as the federal government’s human resources department, tweeted out a series of sample letters on Thursday, templates that government workers can personalize and send to the people they owe money during the shutdown.

If you’re dealing with a landlord who needs the rent you owe, here’s the government’s advice:

“I will keep in touch with you to keep you informed about my income status and I would like to discuss with you the possibility of trading my services to perform maintenance (e.g. painting, carpentry work) in exchange for partial rent payments.”

Government workers have been sharing their #shutdownstories on social media. Some are disabled and facing eviction.

Read: Government workers are sharing their #shutownstories on social media. They're grim.

The government also says consider getting in touch a “personal attorney” for advice on dealing with creditors.

Cover: Trash begins to accumulate along the National Mall near the Washington Monument due to a partial shutdown of the federal government on December 24, 2018 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images)