High demand for Covid grants to small businesses -- but not housing, child care

Oct. 22--A grant program to help small businesses was the last of three Covid-19 grant initiatives rolled out by Erie County.

But it's going to be the first one to run out of money.

In barely a week, more than 1,500 businesses have already applied, seeking $27.7 million from a program that currently only has $20 million to give away, County Executive Mark Poloncarz said Wednesday.

Other programs for child care, rent and mortgage assistance grants, rolled out last month, still have millions of unspent dollars because of a lack of applicants, even though many residents would meet the income eligibility requirements. All of the programs are being covered with federal stimulus dollars that must be spent by the end of the year.

Poloncarz said that if more people don't apply for these other programs soon, he may transfer money out of these programs and into the small business grant program.

The rent and mortgage assistance program, for instance, set aside $10 million to cover up to five months of rent or mortgage payments up to $3,500 for eligible households. Even though the income threshold to qualify is relatively high -- a family of four with an income of $81,000 would qualify -- most of that money remains untouched.

A total of 1,057 renters have applied for grant assistance totaling $2.3 million so far, with landlords at larger apartment complexes helping to spread the word about the grant availability, Poloncarz said. But only 102 people have requested mortgage assistance for a total of only $87,000.

Poloncarz said he suspects few people are seeking mortgage grants because banks are flexible in working with homeowners, but he urged those who need housing payment assistance to apply for the funding as soon as possible and no later than the end of the month.

"People, please take advantage of these programs," he said. "Otherwise the money is going to get moved somewhere else."

It's a similar story with the child care assistance program, which was originally slated to allocate up to $10 million to families who want assistance covering child care costs. That program has been reduced to $7 million and still is in no danger of running out.

"Many families are not applying that qualify," Poloncarz said.

Similar to the rent and mortgage assistance program, eligible households do not have be extremely poor to qualify for assistance.

Income eligibility Household size Maximum income

1 $42,405

2 $55,453

3 $68,501

4 $81,549

5 $94,597

6 $107,645

7 $112,538

The county is also using child care funding to support virtual learning centers, which unlike regular child care centers, provides children the opportunity to participate in classes remotely while being supervised away from home.

Every school district has one, but they are currently at about 25% capacity, Poloncarz said.

The federal CARES Act funding for Erie County must be depleted by the end of the year or be returned to the federal government, Poloncarz said.

The programs, which target economically disadvantaged residents, pale in comparison to the demand seen for the Back to Business grant program, formally unveiled just last week. Administered by 43North, it covers businesses with 50 or fewer employees.

Sole proprietors can get $10,000 grants. Businesses with two to 25 employees can get $25,000. And those with 26 to 50 employees can get $45,000. The grants can be used to cover a variety of expenses, including payroll, operations and workplace changes to adapt to Covid-19. But the funds must be spent by Dec. 30.

Eligible businesses must have been established since at least Oct. 1, 2019, and generated less than $7.5 million in revenue last year.

No decisions regarding small business grants will be made until after the application period closes on Nov. 2, he said.

In addition, not every business that applies will receive grant funding. Those that have previously received federal assistance through the Payroll Protection Program would be weighted less favorably. Those businesses located in distressed ZIP codes or that are women- or minority-owned would be weighted more favorably.

Poloncarz's comments came as he and Health Commissioner Dr. Gale Burstein reviewed the Covid-19 numbers. Poloncarz pointed out that the 20-29 year old age group continues to have the highest number of cases confirmed for the past week, and nearly one out of every five confirmed cases involved someone between the ages of 18 and 22.

The county executive also expressed concern that 40% of all Covid-19 related hospitalizations in Western New York come from outside Erie County. State numbers show the region's total of patients hospitalized due to the coronavirus rose by seven to 86, a total not seen in the region since mid-June.

New York's daily positive coronavirus test rate for Tuesday was 1.6%, a level the state has only reached twice since June. Western New York's rate hit 2.0%, driven by 40 cases from Chautauqua County.

For information on Erie County's child care assistance grants, visit: https://www2.erie.gov/socialservices or call 858-8953.

For information on Erie County's rent and mortgage assistance grants, visit: 211wny.org or call 211.

For information on Erie County's small business grant program, visit: BackToBizGrants.org

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