File photo
File photo
In just over a day, Harris County’s small business loan program was overwhelmed with $152 million in applications, and new applications have been suspended.
The program stopped accepting new applications in order to avoid giving business owners false hope after requests far exceeded the funds available, said Precinct 2 Commissioner Adrian Garcia, according to the Houston Chronicle.
With a budget of $10 million for the program, the county received over 7,135 requests for loans adding up to more than $152 million within only 28 hours from the launch of the website. The limit per business is $25,000 and the average loan request was $21,410.
Garcia said he hopes the county can work with the state to fund additional loans past the initial $10 million budget.
The flood of requests demonstrates how great the need is, Lake Houston Chamber of Commerce President Jenna Armstrong said.
“It’s limited funding and everyone is trying to grasp on to whatever they can,” she said.
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