U.S. Small Business Administration opens disaster loan relief for Illinois storm-hit businesses and residents

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Illinois disaster loan relief

Highlights

U.S. Small Business Administration declares disaster relief for 11 Illinois counties, enabling access to physical damage and economic injury loans after July storms.
Businesses can borrow up to $2 million and homeowners up to $500,000 for repairs, with loan rates starting at 4% for businesses and 2.875% for homeowners and renters.
Loan applications for property damage are due by Sept. 8, 2024, and for economic injury by April 12, 2027, with payments deferred for 12 months post-disbursement.

Loan coverage and application terms

As reported by the U.S. Small Business Administration, the federal agency issues a disaster declaration for Illinois after receiving a request from Governor JB Pritzker on July 7. The declaration covers Clark, Clay, Coles, Cumberland, Douglas, Edgar, Effingham, Fayette, Jasper, Moultrie and Shelby counties, making them eligible for both physical damage loans and Economic Injury Disaster Loans.

Businesses and private nonprofit organizations can apply for business physical disaster loans of up to $2 million to repair or replace damaged or destroyed real estate, machinery, equipment, inventory and other business assets. Homeowners can apply for up to $500,000 to repair or replace their primary residence, while homeowners and renters can borrow up to $100,000 for personal property including clothing, furniture, cars and appliances.

Applicants can also qualify for a loan increase of up to 20% of verified physical damage for mitigation work. Eligible improvements include reinforcing structures against high winds, upgrading to wind-rated garage doors and installing a safe room or storm shelter.

Recovery support and regional business impact

Chris Stallings, associate administrator of the Office of Disaster Recovery and Resilience at the SBA, says the agency's Disaster Loan Outreach Centers help business owners and residents complete applications and understand available recovery programs. The SBA also makes its EIDL program available to small businesses, small agricultural cooperatives and private nonprofit organizations with disaster-related financial losses, even if they do not suffer physical damage.

Those loans are designed to cover working capital needs such as fixed debts, payroll, accounts payable and other unpaid bills caused by the disaster. The SBA says it cannot provide disaster loans to agricultural producers, farmers or ranchers, except for small aquaculture enterprises.

Interest rates start at 4% for businesses, 3.625% for private nonprofits and 2.875% for homeowners and renters, with terms of up to 30 years. Interest does not begin to accrue, and payments are not due, until 12 months after the first loan disbursement; the deadline for physical property damage applications is Sept. 8, and the deadline for economic injury applications is April 12, 2027.

Our earlier report on the SBA’s expanded anti-fraud crackdown explained how the agency is deploying Palantir software to strengthen detection and enforcement tied to pandemic relief programs, including PPP and COVID EIDL. It detailed large-scale suspensions of suspected fraudulent borrowers and the referral of hundreds of thousands of cases to the U.S. Treasury for collection, underscoring the agency’s push to protect taxpayer-funded lending programs.

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