The Antelope Valley Times

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Lancaster forgives Stand Strong Small Business Recovery loans

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[Image via city of Lancaster.]
LANCASTER – The Lancaster City Council recently approved a measure to forgive Stand Strong Small Business Recovery loans awarded to local businesses deemed “non-essential” by the State and County health orders during the COVID-19 pandemic to help keep restaurants, bars, gyms, and hair salons in the community open into 2022.

The city originally launched the Stand Strong Small Business Recovery loan program in March 2020, within a week of California declaring a state of emergency. The loan program was originally meant to help locally-owned small businesses survive when the state locked down. However, these businesses are still struggling as the pandemic continues, so city officials believe loan forgiveness could provide relief to those hit hardest.

“In forgiving these business loans, we are positive all of our treasured and special local businesses will be able to continue to serve our community and remain a staple in Lancaster for years to come,” Lancaster Mayor R. Rex Parris said in a news release.

In 2020, qualifying businesses were able to apply for loans between $5,000 and $20,000 to help with necessities, including rent, payroll, utilities, services, cleaning supplies, personal protective equipment, and anything else the business may have needed to recover. The city of Lancaster approved 37 loans, totaling $678,267 in funding.

With the City Council’s decision, 28 loans were forgiven, which totals $557,267 in funds that would have been repaid. The city will use federal American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds to reimburse Lancaster’s General Fund.

To learn more about Lancaster’s business resources, visit cityoflancasterca.org/business/business-resources-economic-development.

[Information via news release from the city of Lancaster.]

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15 comments for "Lancaster forgives Stand Strong Small Business Recovery loans"

  1. When you have a steady income from suing cities and school boards for voting districts that you won’t institute in your own city, paying the property tax is no problem.

  2. If William was given an 8 million dollar house he couldn’t afford to live in it.

    I couldn’t either. I suppose we could rent it out

    • I got me an $8 million loan to buy a house in Laguna Beach.

      I used Trump’s financial statelments.

      What could go wrong?

          • Where FWB? Where do you live? Barstow? Lake LA?

            If it was great, you’d say so but for now you are full of yourself.

            I have to remember to write [sarcasm alert] for the dummies on this site like FWB.

        • “No you didn’t”

          That’s it? That’s all there is in your brain?

          Are you Anthony Weiner?

          • It was obviously just an empty comment. Whatever tiny flicker of thought drifted through the barren cavern of their mind when they needed something to attach to the homophobic slur username that they thought was clever. That’s why I’m guessing it was one of the deecees; they are the only regular posters that regularly resort to the homophobe slurs. It takes a more dee than usual deecee to think that homophobe slurs still work at this point. They pretty much failed out at least a decade ago, and reflect more badly on the person slinging them than they do on the target.