Small Business Administration runs out of funding for disaster relief loans after hurricanes Helene, Milton

The Small Business Administration has run out of money for its disaster assistance loans, delaying much needed relief for people applying for aid in the wake of the destruction caused by hurricanes Helene and Milton.

The SBA offers Economic Injury Disaster Loans to businesses and people affected by disasters. The organization said earlier said it expected to run out of funding by the end of the month. Congress can approve more funds, but doesn’t reconvene until Nov. 12.

The SBA said in a news release that “until Congress appropriates additional funds, the SBA is pausing new loan offers for its direct, low-interest, long-term loans to disaster survivors.”

SBA Administrator Isabel Casillas Guzman said people should keep applying for the loans, however.

“While we await Congress to provide much-needed funding, we strongly encourage eligible businesses and households to apply for SBA disaster loans,” Guzman said in a statement. “SBA will continue to support homeowners, renters, businesses and nonprofits in processing their applications to ensure they receive assistance quickly once funds are replenished.”

The SBA’s loan application portal remains open, the agency’s disaster centers and in-person staff remain deployed across the country, and it will continue to accept new applications and ready borrowers to get their disaster loan offers as soon as possible once Congress appropriates funds.

So far, the SBA has seen around 37,000 applications for relief submitted from those impacted by Hurricane Helene and 12,000 applications for those impacted by Hurricane Milton. So far, the SBA has made more than 700 Helene loan offers totaling about $48 million.

Several Biden administration and congressional sources had told CBS News last week that they feared the SBA fund could run out by the end of the month. This comes after Congress failed to include additional funding for the disaster fund when it passed a short-term three-month federal spending bill in September. Congress doesn’t reconvene until after the election.

The SBA provided nearly $3 billion in loans to disaster survivors in 2023, including over $670 million for small businesses and over $2.3 billion for homeowners and renters, according to federal officials.