BOSTON — More help is on the way for everyone who is hurting because of the financial impact of the pandemic. Right now, a $900 billion relief bill passed by the U.S Senate is on the way to President Donald Trump for his signature, which is expected in the coming days
The bill is part of a $1.4 trillion bill to keep the federal government running through September.
Included in the relief bill is $600 direct payments to Americans making $75,000 a year or less. There is also an extension of unemployment benefits including an extra $300 per week.
Also Monday, about 1,100 small businesses in Massachusetts learned they will receive grants totaling $49 million. Most of the businesses are owned by women, minorities, or veterans.
This money is a last-minute lifeline for some business owners, but is it enough?
“The bill falls short in terms of its industry-specific help and helping the restaurant industry at large,” said Jonathan Gilman, chef & co-owner of Brato Brewhouse and Kitchen in Brighton. “I know it does target things like venues and some a larger establishments, but some of the smaller mom-and-pop spots, specifically that necessarily aren’t in the position to take out loans or take on further debt situation where grants are needed just to cover losses, we haven’t seen that yet.”
Gilman spent Monday night checking with accountants to make sure they can prove enough of a loss this year to qualify.
“We’re a first-year business,” he said. “We’ve been open for 13 months. So it’s really hard for us to show.”
With little backup liquidity and little patience after waiting months for the government, they realized they had to start raising money elsewhere.
They turned to a local crowdfunding company Mainvest and so far have raised about $25,000 from supporters. And there is something in it for the people investing as well.
“We started to talk to Mainvest about it saying we don’t think the help is going to come from the government towards our industry,” he said. “And unfortunately, we’re right. There’s nothing targeted to the restaurant industry. So we went back to the people who invested us in the first place.”
Nick Mathews, the CEO of Mainvest, said the support is more than a donation, allowing those who invest to get returns on their money and grow the community along with the business.
It’s a COVID environment that has several small businesses scratching and clawing to survive with and without stimulus.
“Everyone knew it was coming and everyone knew that we had this hurdle of how we were going to survive the colder months and there had been no indication of help until recently,” said Gilman. “I think that’s been the most egregious part of this.”
Small businesses are not the only ones frustrated by the wait. U.S. households could begin receiving direct stimulus payments as early as next week.
This bill is thousands of pages long and one of the reasons it’s that long is to try and make sure the money is appropriated in the right places as best as possible. Of course, there will always be issues, but with months of negotiations and a lot of compromise on both sides of the aisle, political experts say this stimulus has taken lessons from the last one.
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