CRA board approves disaster-relief loan program and reallocates budget, including $5 million for disaster loans
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Summary
At a Salt Lake City Community Reinvestment Agency (CRA) meeting, the board adopted a disaster relief loan program for businesses affected by recent fires and approved a budget amendment that reallocates roughly $14.4 million across commercial assistance programs — including a $5 million allocation for the disaster relief loan program.
Salt Lake City’s Community Reinvestment Agency Board on Oct. 24 approved a new disaster relief loan program aimed at helping property owners and businesses rebuild after recent commercial fires and adopted a budget amendment reallocating existing commercial assistance funds, including $5,000,000 for the disaster program.
The board heard a staff introduction from Kate Warritt, a council staff policy analyst, who described the public hearing item as “proposed to do two things. First, it will move money to the appropriate commercial assistance loan program funds in order to fund that program. Second…prove funding for the disaster relief loan program up to $5,000,000.”
Danny Wall, director of the CRA, presented the follow-up briefing and asked the board to approve the program so implementation could begin. Board members discussed the program goal of getting Main Street buildings rebuilt quickly. One board member said their “number one priority…is that this money helps rebuild those buildings as quickly as possible,” while others said they were open to limited design changes so long as reconstruction proceeded promptly.
Warritt and Wall told the board the disaster-relief program applications must be submitted within 12 months of a qualifying event and that loan approvals can include timeframes for completion. Wall said the CRA and council previously approved separate business loans and barricade funds on the economic development side; this CRA action focuses on property/structure rebuilding through property-owner loans.
The budget amendment the board approved reallocates existing commercial-assistance allocations totaling just over $14.4 million. Wall said the amendment includes a $5,000,000 allocation toward the disaster relief loan program and leaves approximately $9,400,000 available across other commercial development loan program (CDLP) project areas. He described the amendment as reallocating previously authorized funds so they can be disbursed under the CDLP and the disaster loan program.
Action and vote: Board member Dugan moved to close the public hearing and later moved the motion to adopt the disaster relief loan program. The motions were seconded by board members Wharton and Young at the respective steps. The motion to adopt the disaster relief loan program passed with a 5–0 vote (board members Pui and Lopez Chavez absent). The related budget amendment to reallocate funds and set the $5,000,000 allocation also passed 5–0.
Why it matters: The actions free up existing CRA loan funds to support reconstruction on Main Street and other qualifying commercial corridors and create a time-limited application window to accelerate rebuilding. Staff said the intent is to prioritize rapid rebuilding so commercial districts are restored quickly and employees can return to work.
Next steps: CRA staff will implement the disaster relief loan program, accept applications during the 12-month application window tied to the qualifying event, and return loan approvals to the board for conditional authorization with timelines attached as appropriate.
