{"id":236889,"date":"2026-07-06T18:40:08","date_gmt":"2026-07-06T18:40:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/236889\/"},"modified":"2026-07-06T18:40:08","modified_gmt":"2026-07-06T18:40:08","slug":"sba-offers-disaster-relief-for-victims-of-oak-forest-apartment-complex-fire-reading-area","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/236889\/","title":{"rendered":"SBA offers disaster relief for victims of Oak Forest Apartment Complex fire | Reading Area"},"content":{"rendered":"

MUHLENBERG TOWNSHIP, Pa. – The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) announced the availability of low-interest federal disaster loans for Pennsylvania small businesses, private nonprofits, and residents affected by Oak Forest apartment complex fire<\/a> that occurred on June 11.<\/p>\n

The SBA issued a disaster declaration in response to a request received from Governor Josh Shapiro on June 23, according to a news release from the SBA.<\/p>\n

The administration says the declaration covers the Pennsylvania counties of Berks, Chester, Lancaster, Lebanon, Lehigh, Montgomery and Schuylkill, which are eligible for both physical damage loans and Economic Injury Disaster Loans from the SBA.<\/p>\n

Businesses and private nonprofits are eligible to apply for business physical disaster loans and may borrow up to $2 million to repair or replace disaster-damaged or destroyed real estate, machinery and equipment, inventory, and other business assets, according to officials.<\/p>\n

SBA says homeowners and renters are eligible to apply for home and personal property loans and may borrow up to $100,000 to replace or repair personal property, such as clothing, furniture, cars, and appliances. Homeowners may apply for up to $500,000 to replace or repair their primary residence.<\/p>\n

Applicants may also be eligible for a loan increase of up to 20% of their physical damage, as verified by the SBA, for mitigation purposes. The release says eligible mitigation improvements include strengthening structures to protect against high wind damage, upgrading to wind rated garage doors, and installing a safe room or storm shelter to help protect property and occupants from future damage.<\/p>\n

SBA\u2019s EIDL program is available to small businesses, small agricultural cooperatives, and private nonprofit organizations with financial losses directly related to the disaster. The SBA says it is unable to provide disaster loans to agricultural producers, farmers, or ranchers, except for small aquaculture enterprises.<\/p>\n

EIDLs are for working capital needs caused by the disaster and are available even if the business did not suffer any physical damage. Officials say they may be used to pay fixed debts, payroll, accounts payable, and other bills which could not be paid due to the disaster.<\/p>\n

The administration says interest rates are as low as 4% for businesses, 3.625% for PNPs, and 2.875% for homeowners, and renters, with terms up to 30 years. Interest does not begin to accrue, and payments are not due, until 12 months from the date of the first loan disbursement. The SBA says it sets loan amounts and terms, based on each applicant\u2019s financial condition.<\/p>\n

Beginning Monday, June 29, SBA customer service representatives will be on hand at the Disaster Loan Outreach Center in the primary county of Berks to answer questions about SBA\u2019s disaster loan program, explain the application process, and help individuals complete their application. Walk-ins are welcome, and you can\u202fschedule an in-person appointment in advance at appointment.sba.gov<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The DLOC hours of operation are listed below:<\/p>\n

Berks County<\/p>\n

Disaster Loan Outreach Center \u2013 Chabad-Lubavitch at 2320 Hampden Blvd., Reading, PA 19604<\/p>\n

Opens at 10 a.m. Monday, June 29<\/p>\n

Mondays \u2013 Fridays, 9 a.m. \u2013 6 p.m.<\/p>\n

Closes permanently at 5 p.m. Thursday, July 16<\/p>\n

To apply online, visit sba.gov\/disaster<\/a>. Applicants may also call SBA\u2019s Customer Service Center at (800)\u202f659-2955 or email disastercustomerservice@sba.gov<\/a> for more information on SBA disaster assistance. For people who are deaf, hard of hearing, or have a speech disability, please dial 7-1-1 to access telecommunications relay services.<\/p>\n

Officials say the filing deadline to return applications for physical property damage is Aug. 24. The deadline to return economic injury applications is March 24, 2027.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"MUHLENBERG TOWNSHIP, Pa. – The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) announced the availability of low-interest federal disaster loans…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":217077,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[349,102002,57603,102005,102004,422,102003,28,128,130,129,70908,2918],"class_list":["post-236889","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-reading","tag-berks-county","tag-disaster-loan","tag-disaster-recovery","tag-economic-injury","tag-federal-assistance","tag-fire","tag-oak-forest-apartment","tag-pennsylvania","tag-reading-city","tag-reading-city-headlines","tag-reading-city-news","tag-sba","tag-small-business"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/236889","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=236889"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/236889\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/217077"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=236889"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=236889"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=236889"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}