Pa. Gov. Notes Approval of SBA Disaster Loans

On behalf of Gov. Edward Rendell, Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency Director David Sanko announced that the U.S. Small Business Administration has approved the Governor’s request for disaster loan assistance for homeowners, renters and small businesses affected by the recent flooding in Delaware, Montgomery and Philadelphia counties. SBA will also make Economic Injury Disaster Loans available to businesses in contiguous counties of Berks, Bucks, Chester and Lehigh.

“We are doing everything possible to help folks in these areas restore their property and continue to recover from these severe storms,” Sanko said. “Those hardest hit can apply for these low-interest disaster loans to make repairs to their homes and property.”

Home Disaster Loans are available to homeowners or renters to repair or replace disaster damages to real estate or personal property owned by the victim. Renters are eligible for their personal property losses.

Physical Disaster Business Loans are for businesses, including landlords and nonprofit organizations, to repair or replace disaster damages to property owned by the business. These losses could be to real estate, machinery and equipment, inventory and supplies.

Economic Injury Disaster Loans are also available to eligible small businesses to provide needed working capital until normal operations resume after a disaster. These loans cover operating expenses the business could have paid had the disaster not occurred.

“We will do everything we can to ensure that small businesses overcome economic injury and the EIDL program is one way to guarantee the resources to pay for that financial recovery,” Sanko noted.

Approved homeowners would be eligible to borrow up to $200,000 for structural damage and an additional 20 percent for mitigation. Tenants and homeowners could borrow up to $40,000 for possession replacement, while businesses could borrow up to $1.5 million. The interest on the loans ranges from 2.9 to 6.37 percent.