U.S. Small Business Administration is providing disaster relief loans to several counties affected by Hurricane Dorian.

SBA’s goal is to provide homeowners, businesses and non-profits with the necessary resources and support in times of declared disaster. Dorris Evans, public affairs specialist for the SBA, said “SBA’s mission is to make communities whole again.” They are currently providing SBA loans to the North Carolina counties of Carteret, Dare, Hyde and New Hanover, and the contiguous counties of Beaufort, Brunswick, Craven, Currituck, Jones, Onslow, Pamlico, Pender, Tyrrell and Washington.

There are three loans available to homeowners, renters, businesses and non-profits. The first is a Business Physical Disaster Loan (BPDL), which assists with structural damage to the property. This loan is available to businesses and non-profits including charities, churches, private universities, etc. BPDL is limited to $2,000,000.

The second loan is an Economic Injury Disaster Loans (EIDL). EIDL provides working capital to businesses of all sizes to recover after periods of disaster. These loans are also limited to $2,000,000. According to the SBA fact sheet, “the actual amount of each loan is limited to the economic injury determined by SBA, less business interruption insurance and other recoveries up to the administrative lending limit.”

The last loan is available to homeowners and renters to help repair or replace damaged property and automobiles. This Home Disaster Loan (HDL) is limited to $200,000 for real estate repair and replacement and $40,000 for personal property damage repair.

Evans said the interest rates are low: “The program is designed to come into areas to assist as much as we can.” Applicants need to have an income to pay back the loan. There is up to a 30-year term for the loans, which gives SBA loan officers a lot of leeway to assist.

To date, Evans said they have $689,000 in loans from North Carolina residents that experienced physical damage from the hurricane. $500,00 was approved for HDL so far, and $185,000 has been loaned for physical damage to businesses. No economic injury loans have been received as of now.

For immediate assistance, there is currently an SBA Center located in Hyde County, open weekdays 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. The center is in the Variety Store Parking Lot, 950 Irvin Garrish Hwy., Ocracoke. It will be open until Thursday, Nov. 7 at 4 p.m.

Those located in another listed county can apply online, receive additional disaster assistance information and download an application at https://disasterloan.sba.gov/ela. Applicants may also call SBA’s Customer Service Center at 800-659-2955 or email disastercustomerservice@sba.gov for more information. Individuals who are deaf or hard-of-hearing may call 800-877-8339. Completed applications should be mailed to U.S. Small Business Administration, Processing and Disbursement Center, 14925 Kingsport Road, Fort Worth, TX 76155.

The filing deadline to return applications for physical property damage is Dec. 16, 2019. The deadline to return economic injury applications is July 16, 2020.

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