Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan announced last month the city’s plan of action for Detroit businesses to reopen as the coronavirus curve continues to flatten in Michigan.
Through a city coalition with Quicken Loans and DTE Energy, they are continuing to offer aid to small businesses in the city to stay on their feet and a playbook of how to reinstate workers.
After a few weeks in, the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) has been adjusted to offer small businesses more flexibility in accessing financial support. The recently approved Paycheck Protection Program Flexibility Act offers borrowers additional time to qualify for forgiveness and eases many of the loan restrictions.
“The recent adjustments made to the Paycheck Protection Program provides businesses more flexibility in accessing financial support, offers borrowers additional time to qualify for forgiveness and eases many of the loan restrictions, which will make a big difference as they begin to reopen,” said Nancy Moody, DTE Energy vice president of public affairs. “To support the change, the DetroitMeansBusiness.org website was expanded to make it even easier for owners to understand which financial support programs are most aligned with their businesses. The site also offers access to resources, information and experts to ensure businesses can safely reopen and successfully operate moving forward.”
Detroit Means Business is a resource for small business owners to find aggregated information on multiple programs, including the PPP. The Detroit Means Business website has recently been expanded to make it even easier for business owners to understand which financial support programs are best aligned with their businesses. The website allows Detroit’s small business owners access to resources, information and experts to ensure their businesses can safely reopen and successfully operate moving forward.
- Lengthens the loan maturity to a minimum of five years for all future borrowers.
- Extends the loan’s covered period from June 30, 2020, to December 31, 2020.
- Extends the period for calculating loan forgiveness expenses from eight weeks to the earlier of 24 weeks after the loan’s origination date or December 31, 2020.
- Extends the deadline from June 30, 2020, to December 31, 2020, for borrowers to rehire employees in order to receive full loan forgiveness.
- Reduces the amount of the loan that must be spent on payroll expenses to receive loan forgiveness from 75 percent to 60 percent, allowing 40 percent of loan proceeds to be spent on non-payroll expenses.
- Eliminates the six-month payment deferral for PPP loans and replaces it with a deferral on payments until the date the amount of loan forgiveness is remitted to the lender.
- Requires borrowers to apply for loan forgiveness within 10 months of the end of the covered period.
- Allows employers to receive the deferral of payroll taxes included in the CARES Act even if they also receive forgiveness for a PPP loan.
The program will continue to be updated as new protocols are announced and new tools become available. To learn more about available financial, technical and safety resources, and help with hiring additional workers, businesses can visit DetroitMeansBusiness.org.