While the outer boroughs have been disproportionately hit by the COVID-19 pandemic, small businesses in Manhattan have gotten the majority of assistance from the city.
According to the city's Small Business Services agency on Wednesday, around $8 million of the $20 million loan program for struggling small businesses has been disbursed, with 66 percent going to Manhattan-based shops. Bronx business owners have received less than one percent—around $80,000—while those in Brooklyn, Queens and Staten Island have received 18 percent, 9 percent, and 5 percent, respectively.
The figures, revealed by the SBS commissioner Gregg Bishop during a New York City Council Small Business Committee hearing on Wednesday, agitated chair and Bronx Councilmember Mark Gjonaj.
“One percent of the loans went to the borough of the Bronx and 66% went to Manhattan?” Gjonaj asked . “And we know that most of these small businesses exist in the outer boroughs, so already we see a huge disparity here on how these loans are being [disbursed].”
The program is part of a $49 million loan and grant program created by the de Blasio administration to serve as a lifeline to businesses struggling to remain open after the pandemic—$10 million in loans and $39 million in grants.
Of the $39 million in grants, $29 million has been disbursed; 3 percent has gone to Bronx and Staten Island businesses respectively, 16 percent to businesses in Queens, 25 percent to shops in Brooklyn, and 53 percent to businesses in Manhattan.
Bishop couldn't fully explain the discrepancies, but noted that of the proportions reflected the citywide makeup of businesses eligible to apply for the money—those with four employees or fewer and in existence for two years or more. Of the companies eligible for the aid, 8 percent of them are located in the Bronx, compared to 40 percent in Manhattan, 26 percent in Brooklyn, 23 percent in Queens, and 4 percent in Staten Island.
Bishop did not have the number of qualifying applicants, though he mentioned that his agency has steered businesses that did not receive a loan to the federally funded Paycheck Protection Program. Small businesses are still waiting for the second round of those federal PPP funds to be released.
The commissioner estimated that the city's small businesses will eventually need between $1.5 to $2 billion in relief.
“It’s sad, it’s borderline criminal,” Gjonaj told Gothamist the day after the hearing. “The Bronx never got the love.”
On top of the economic pain, the Bronx and Queens have been walloped by the virus. While the Bronx has 2,513 cases per 100,000 people—more than any other borough—Queens has the most deaths, with 3,832.
Jennifer Tausig, executive director of the Jerome Gun Hill Business Improvement in the Norwood section of the Bronx, who called the breakdown “shameful.”
“The system clearly isn’t working for those who need it most,” said Tausig, who doubles as co-chair of the BID association, a coalition of business improvement districts across the city. “Even if you look at percentage of small business per borough, Manhattan has more, sure, but still a huge discrepancy.”
Getting more relief to small businesses is already in the works, with talks of another loan program for businesses, said Gjonaj, who looks to “muscle” earmarks through.
“We know our commercial corridors will never be the same again, we know this,” said Gjonaj. “The more businesses that are open the better off we are.”
Correction: An earlier draft of this story misidentified the nature of the loan as forgivable and the amount.
