Grant awards aim to help businesses repay unpaid rent due to COVID-19 hardship

From City of San Leandro

The City of San Leandro is proud to announce the San Leandro Small Business Recovery Grant Program, which will provide $750,000 in grants to help small businesses pay back rent owed. The Grant Program is focused on helping businesses that have suffered the most from the pandemic and struggled to access financial assistance. Additionally, training and ongoing services will be provided to support the continued operations and growth of the businesses beyond the pandemic. The San Leandro Small Business Recovery Grant Program is an effort to help the community “keep it local” both in character and vitality.

These grants are being provided as a part of San Leandro’s COVID-19 recovery efforts to support businesses and foster community. With support from the San Leandro City Council, the City has allocated $750,000 of the City’s American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funding for small business assistance grants. Through this program, around 50 small businesses will receive grants of up to $15,000 each to be paid to their landlords to cover overdue rent accrued since the onset of the pandemic.

Eligible businesses must be located in incorporated San Leandro. This program is aimed at brick-and-mortar, for-profit businesses in operation since before March 16, 2020, with 25 or fewer employees, and that lease or rent their commercial property directly from a landlord. The goal of the program is to assist businesses that were required to be closed or had limited operations for an extensive period during 2020, experienced a significant loss of revenue, a reduction in workforce, and that received little to no financial assistance in response to the pandemic. All small businesses are encouraged to apply if they think they might qualify.

This program continues efforts by the City of San Leandro that began in 2020, when nearly $1.7 million in grants were issued to struggling San Leandro businesses. Many of these businesses were able to take advantage of the local Commercial Eviction Moratorium, which ended on September 30 of this year, and left a multitude of businesses challenged to repay their overdue rent. The City hopes that this program will help to get the hardest-hit tenants current on their rent payments, thereby ensuring operational continuity and business retention.

The Small Business Recovery Grant program launches on Dec. 21, 2021. Initial applications are due Jan. 11, 2022. Information about the grant program can be found at https://www.sanleandro.org/767/COVID-19-Business-Resources

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