Lockdown to hurt small businesses
Loans not realistic if you can’t pay them back
Small businesses might not survive the lockdown forced by the coronavirus in Massachusetts, experts say, without help from the state and federal government — and the loans now being offered might not be enough.
“There’s a lot of fear out there, to be honest with you. There’s fear about sales going off the cliff,” President of the Retailers Association of Massachusetts Jon Hurst said. “If costs aren’t mitigated and if sales don’t return, many of these small businesses will not still be around come this summer.”
Gov. Charlie Baker announced a $10 million Small Business Recovery Loan Fund Monday after he banned on-site consumption in bars and restaurants across the state Sunday. The emergency order limits establishments to takeout and delivery through April 17 in another attempt to curb community transmission of the coronavirus, which reached 197 confirmed cases Monday.
The loans, available immediately with no payments for the first six months, will provide emergency capital up to $75,000 to businesses impacted by the coronavirus with under 50 full- and part-time employees, including nonprofits.
Applications can be found on the Massachusetts Growth Capital Corp. website, and once completed, should be sent via email to mgcc@massgcc.com with the subject line “2020 Small Business Recovery Loan Fund.”
“There’s no question everybody’s feeling the impact of coronavirus at this point and it’s certainly tremendously disruptive to our daily lives,” Baker said
Monday after a weekly meeting with Senate President Karen Spilka and House Speaker Robert DeLeo.
But Hurst said, “A lot of folks are not sure they want to borrow money that they aren’t sure they can pay back if the sales are not there.”
The U.S. Small Business Administration is also offering low-interest federal disaster loans for working capital to small businesses, but the governor must request a disaster declaration before businesses can apply. Only Connecticut, Washington, D.C., Maine, Rhode Island, Washington and California have been declared so far, according to a spokeswoman.
Unemployment benefits are now available for workers who are ordered to quarantine, who left work due to the risk of exposure or to care for a family member. Baker also filed a bill Monday to wave the oneweek waiting period for unemployment benefits.
U.S. Rep. Seth Moulton said he has “massive concerns” about how the pandemic will impact the economy locally, nationally and globally.
“This is just the very beginning,” Moulton told the Herald. “We haven’t even felt the effects of restaurants closing. … It’s going to be hard for a lot of people — waitresses, busboys and owners of these establishments. Unfortunately, the effects of that are going to be felt for a while.”