CRA proposes $5M disaster relief loan program after Main Street fire; board schedules Oct. 14 hearing on budget amendment

Salt Lake City’s Community Reinvestment Agency (CRA) on Sept. 9, 2025, presented a proposed disaster relief loan program intended to help property owners in CRA project areas rebuild after the August Main Street fire and to accelerate recovery from future qualifying disasters.

Kate (city council staff) and CRA staff member Danny outlined the program and a related budget amendment that would reallocate existing CRA commercial loan funds. Danny said staff’s intent was to create an expedited financing tool that could be used in response to significant, verifiable damage from qualifying events (for example, fire, flood or earthquake) and be available again in future incidents.

Under the proposed disaster relief loan program (DRLP), eligible applicants would be existing property owners or long‑term lessees with direct, verifiable damage from a qualifying event. Eligible uses include demolition and site clearance, securing the site, design and engineering, construction and related rebuilding costs. The program is limited to properties within CRA project areas. Danny said the program is intended to provide “gap” financing and to be an “add-on, not a complete substitution” for…