After striking out with the Federal Emergency Management Agency, storm-ravaged Virginia homeowners could have a much better shot garnering low-interest loans for home repairs from the U.S. Small Business Administration, officials say.
The administration has less stringent criteria for granting the emergency home-repair loans than does FEMA, which recently turned down two requests by Gov. Timothy Kaine to open up loans and grants to counties beleaguered by storms and flooding in late June.
On Tuesday, the governor made a similar request to the Small Business Administration. For a county to qualify, at least 25 homes or businesses must have sustained uninsured losses of 40 percent or more of the estimated replacement value of the structure. Only loans, not grants, are available through the SBA, however.
By comparison, FEMA’s criteria for granting similar loans is a “higher standard,” said SBA spokesman Richard C. Daigle. The disaster agency based its denial of individual aid on the ability of local governments to handle the storm response, which it decided was adequate.
“We believe we meet the SBA threshold,” said Virginia Department of Emergency Management spokesman Marc LaFountain.
That sentiment was echoed in the governor’s letter to the SBA, in which he said 45 homes in Fairfax County and 35 in the city of Alexandria suffered sufficient damage.
The most recent damage assessment from the Virginia Department of Emergency Management put Northern Virginia’s collective private property damage at almost $15 million. Fairfax County’s Huntington community — widely regarded as the worst hit during the storm — sustained the majority of the county’s $4 million toll.
FEMA has approved a separate request from the governor to reimburse counties for infrastructure repairs. Public damage in Northern Virginia is assessed at more than $13 million.
There is no definitive timeline for when the SBA will rule on opening up the loans, which LaFountain said typically fall between a 2 percent and 4 percent interest rate.
Daigle said the SBA will examine FEMA’s damage assessments, among others, in making the decision.
