Osage County residents and business owners affected by tornadic activity late last month may now qualify for low-interest federal loans after action by the Small Business Administration.
The SBA approved Governor Laura Kelly’s request for disaster relief for residents in Osage and seven other counties that dealt with severe weather May 28, including an EF-2 that hurt 12 people in Osage and Douglas counties and an EF-4 that hurt 18 people from Lawrence to Linwood to near Bonner Springs.
Businesses of all sizes and private nonprofits can now request up to $2 million to repair or replace destroyed or damaged real estate, machinery, equipment, inventory and other assets. SBA can also offer additional funds so homeowners and business owners can “protect, prevent or minimize” similar damage from happening later, and it offers Economic Injury Disaster Loans even if businesses had no property damage.
Disaster loans of up to $200,000 are available for homeowners so they can repair or replace damaged or destroyed real estate, while homeowners and renters are eligible for up to $40,000 to repair or replace non-real-estate personal property.
Loan amounts and terms are set by the SBA on a case-by-case basis, but they can be for up to 30 years with interest rates as low as 4 percent for businesses, 2.75 percent for nonprofits and just under 2 percent for homeowners and renters.
Click here for application information. The deadline to apply for property damage is Aug. 13. The deadline to apply for economic injury assistance is March 16, 2020.
