Small Business Administration OKs more than $24 million in Florida disaster loans

Nov. 17--The U.S. Small Business Administration funnelled more than $24 million in low-interest disaster loans into Florida during October to help with Hurricane Matthew recovery -- but the deadline to take advantage of this resource is quickly approaching.

For businesses and residents, the last day to file an application for physical property damage is December 16.

These loans, despite being issued by the SBA, help homeowners, renters, businesses and most private non-profit organizations. So far, the organization has approved 661 disaster loans in the amount of $24,036,200 for affected survivors.

"We are pleased to get these loans approved so residents in the disaster area can start to rebuild and resume their normal lives," said Frank Skaggs, director of SBA's Field Operations Center East in Atlanta. "I encourage anyone who has not submitted an SBA disaster loan application to do so before the deadline."

St. Johns County, so far, has received the most help from SBA as a result of damage acquired during Hurricane Matthew's crawl up the Florida coastline in early October. The SBA has approved approximately $7.6 million in loans to St. Johns' homeowners and $415,900 in loans to businesses, as of Nov. 9.

In Duval, they have issued $470,400 to homeowners, and $52,500 for Nassau homeowners. Neither county received any money for business loans, as of Nov. 9.

By most recent data counts, the only county near St. Johns in terms of SBA loans is Volusia County. There, businesses and homeowners acquired about $4.4 million in assistance.

However, Jack Camp, public affairs specialist with the SBA, suspects these numbers have gone up in the week since the last tally -- though not as fast as assistance offered by the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

"FEMA's numbers tend to go up faster," Camp said. "Ours is a loan, which requires a vetting process to determine eligibility. But, we are getting money on the streets as quickly as we can."

Disaster loans cover uninsured insurance losses from the disaster. Interest rates, according to the SBA, are as low as 4 percent for businesses, 2.65 percent for private nonprofit organizations, and 1.56 percent for homeowners and renters. Loans can be up to 30 years, and are capped at $2 million for businesses and $200,000 for residents.

The SBA assesses damage based on the type of damage and the type of building damaged. Camp says this mainly looks at square footage and quality of structure.

"The whole purpose of an SBA loan is to make you whole," he said. "We are basically trying to put people back to where they were before the storm."

The SBA stresses to business owners and residents not to wait on insurance to apply for a loan.

To be considered for all forms of disaster assistance, applicants should register online at www.disasterassistance.gov -- or download the FEMA mobile app.

Loan applications can be downloaded from www.sba.gov/disaster. Completed applications can be returned to a recovery center or mailed to: U.S. Small Business Administration, Processing and Disbursement Center, 14925 Kingsport Road, Fort Worth, Texas, 76155.

Applicants can also apply online using the Electronic Loan Application at https://disasterloan.sba.gov/ela.

The filing deadline for property damage is Dec. 16, 2016. The deadline to return economic injury applications is July 17, 2017.

FEMA did not respond to questions by press time. Agency employees were not answering telephones during the day at a number of offices Wednesday.

Amanda Williamson: (904) 359-4665

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