Hallandale Beach, FL – The Hallandale Beach Community Redevelopment Agency (HBCRA) has created an innovated $500,000 stimulus program to assist local small businesses in response to the Coronavirus (COVID-19) crisis.
The Coronavirus Small Business Sustainability and Recovery Loan Program was created to address the extremely challenging times associated with the Coronavirus, including the closure of local businesses and the layoff of countless numbers of employees. With the specter of a collapse of our local economy in mind, and a possible increase in slum and blighted conditions, the HBCRA has developed these programs which are designed to work in conjunction with state and federal business disaster recovery programs that have been developed, approved and implemented over the past month.
The Coronavirus Small Business Sustainability and Recovery Loan Program is comprised of two separate loans, the Business Employment Bridge Loan Program with loan amounts up to $50,000, and the Emergency Business Cash Infusion Program with amounts up to $15,000. Both loans are available only to those businesses located within the Hallandale Beach Community Redevelopment Area (CRA). In accordance with Florida Statute 163 Part III, the loans are not available to businesses outside of the CRA. The goal of the program is to provide businesses located within the CRA area with immediate financial relief to avoid temporary or worse, permanent closure. The HBCRA Board will vote this Wednesday, April 15, 2020, to approve the Coronavirus Small Business Sustainability and Recovery Loan Program.
Coronavirus Small Business Sustainability and Recovery Loan Program details:
Business Employment Bridge Loan
The Business Employment Bridge Loan is a forgivable bridge loan designed to work in conjunction with other federal and state programs in order to provide a direct cash incentive for small businesses to keep their workers on the payroll. Under this program, businesses are encouraged to rehire those that they may have previously laid off. The program is an acknowledgement of the challenges that many businesses have with accessing funds at the federal and state levels due to the extremely high amounts of applications that are being received by agencies associated with those entities.
The program provides a bridge loan of up to $50,000, and is available to be qualified for-profit small businesses including, sole proprietors, partnerships, corporations, and limited liability companies, that as of March 9, 2020, had been in business within the CRA for at least one year.
Qualified small business applicants must be an employer business with between 2 to 100 employees. The loan has a maturity of two years at an interest rate of 0%. Only one loan may be made to eligible businesses. The interest rate will be interest-free for a period of two years. The loan will be fully forgiven if the funds are used for payroll costs, interest on mortgages, rent, and utilities (due to likely high subscription, at least 75% of the forgiven amount must have been used for payroll). Loan payments will also be deferred for six months. Personal guarantees are required.
Businesses that apply for and receive the funds, are required to prove that they have applied for various Federal and State loans. Additionally, the CRA has added an innovated component to the loan which requires those receiving the loan to pay a living wage to their employees, and, if the business happens to be a restaurant, food that would normally be thrown away at the end of the night must now be donated to a local shelter or food pantry as a part of the CRA’s Zero Food Waste program.
According to Dr. Jeremy Earle, the Executive Director of the CRA, as well as an Assistant City Manager, “the CRA is taking an innovated step in ensuring that, not only will a local business receive the financial help that they need during these challenging times, but that the employee is also paid a fair wage. Additionally, the CRA wants to ensure that, where it can influence the process, restaurants that would typically throw food away at the end of the evening would now be required to donate that food to a shelter or pantry as a part of the CRA’s Zero Food Waste Initiative. The initiative will help to feed the increasing numbers of those who are facing food insecurity.”
Emergency Business Cash Infusion Loan
The Emergency Business Cash Infusion Loan is a partially forgivable bridge loan, designed to work in conjunction with other federal and state programs in order to provide a direct cash incentive for small businesses to help them through this challenging period associated with the Coronavirus pandemic.
The program is an acknowledgement of the challenges that many businesses have with accessing funds at the federal and state levels due to the extremely high amounts of applications that are being received by agencies associated with those entities. The Loan program provides funds up to $15,000 and is available to be qualified for-profit small businesses including, sole proprietors, partnerships, corporations, and limited liability companies, that as of March 9, 2020, had been in business within the CRA for at least one year. Qualified small business applicants must be an employer business with between 2 to 100 employees.
The loan has a maturity of 18 months at an interest rate of 0%. Only one loan may be made to eligible businesses. The interest rate will be interest-free for a period of 18 months if payments are made on time. The loan may be forgiven for businesses who apply for loans less than $5,000
Application Period: April 15th, 2020 through September 30, 2020 contingent on the availability of funds.
For more information on the Coronavirus Small Business Sustainability and Recovery Loan Program visit cohbcra.org or contact the HBCRA COVID-19 Hotline at 954-787-2055
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