Small businesses say they need more than 2 months of help to survive coronavirus crisis
April 26, 2020 / By Caitlin Fichtel and David K. Li
Even as a new round of billion-dollar relief hits Main Street this week, some small-business owners fear that the money still isn’t enough — and that it comes with so many strings attached that it won’t help their long-term survival.
The latest version of the Paycheck Protection Program, or PPP, is expected to provide $310 billion more to help limit the economic meltdown caused by the coronavirus pandemic.
But for the federally backed loans to be forgiven, recipients must spend 75 percent of the money within eight weeks on payroll to employees who were on the books as the pandemic broke out. The remaining money can be spent on rent, utilities, employee health care benefits and mortgage payments.
Nicole Marquis, owner of the restaurant HipCityVeg in Philadelphia, a recipient of the most recent round of federal aid, said future packages must “provide flexibility in timing to use it.”
She said that while the federal government appears to believe businesses will be up and running in two months, that’s not the reality she sees.
