More resources are now available to help those working to recover from January's devastating floods after the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) opened a Business Recovery Center on Monday.
It's located inside the Southwestern College Higher Education Center in National City.
One of the people who came to get information and help was Cynthia Davis. She was trying to navigate the process online but was having trouble and an SBA representative told her to come by for one-on-one help.
She owns an accessory dwelling unit (ADU) behind her home in Mount Hope that she rents on Airbnb. The flood washed mud and other debris into her backyard from the hills.
"It just makes it really nasty," Davis said.
She is looking for help building a retaining wall to prevent something like that from happening again.
"To clean up, putting another fence or a gate or something to make that more stable," Davis said. "Because at this point, every time it rains, I fear because it's constantly falling — the mud."
Small businesses and private nonprofit organizations can borrow up to $2 million in low-interest loans to help recover losses not covered by insurance. The SBA said people don't need an appointment or any paperwork to start the process. If any paperwork is needed, applicants will receive an email requesting those documents.
Affected homeowners and renters also qualify for SBA loans, said Claudia Anderson, spokesperson for the agency. Anderson said renters and homeowners qualify for up to $500,000.
"The qualifications that you need are to be credit worthy, but we really do want you to come in and submit a loan to be able to see what you have available to you,” she said.
No payments are required, nor is interest accrued for the first 12 months of an SBA loan.
Anderson said people should come by even if they don’t think they qualify.
“The customer service representatives here understand the loan process and understand the trauma that people have gone through, and they're here to try to help in any way that they can,” Anderson said.
The deadline to apply for property damage is April 19. For economic loss, the deadline is Nov. 19.
The center is open from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday. For more information, visit SBA.gov/disaster or call (800) 659-2955.
