Business Oregon is now accepting grant applications to assist small businesses that are behind on their lease payments due to impacts from COVID-19 between March 1, 2020 and February 28, 2021.
The program provides grants to building owners to cover outstanding lease payments from small business tenants. The grants can go up to $100,000 per business tenant, but not more than $3 million for each landlord.
The program is intended to help for-profit small business tenants that have 100 or fewer employees. The agreement will include additional protections for tenants, such as 6-month non-eviction clauses for non-payment, and a waiver of penalties and interest on COVID-impacted payments. Both the business tenant and property owner will need to participate in the application process and sign the grant agreement, but the initial application needs to be completed by the landlord.
The online application is now available on Business Oregon’s website in multiple languages. The application period will be open for two weeks, with eligible submissions chosen by a lottery system that will also ensure geographic distribution across all regions of the state.
The information needed for the initial application is minimal, it includes:
- Landlord name and address
- Tenant name and address
- Tenant’s number of workers (part/full-time)
- Tenant business classification (industry)
- Base rent amount due, and actual paid per month
Media Contact: Nathan Buehler