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April 30, 2020

CT businesses begin receiving DECD bridge-loan notices

HBJ Photo | Steve Laschever Department of Economic and Community Development Commissioner David Lehman
By Matt Pilon

As the COVID-19 pandemic in Connecticut looks to be starting a downward crest, Department of Economic and Community Development Commissioner David Lehman said the state has begun sending businesses approval notices for a $50-million emergency bridge loan program.

The news comes several weeks after DECD announced it had partnered with fintech SoFi and Equifax to help process, underwrite and distribute the loans.

The state received more than 5,000 applications in 48 hours at the launch of the program, forcing it to double the initial $25-million pot. The program is now closed to further applications.

“We’re going to be making a lot of loans, several thousand loans, but the loan amounts are going to be smaller than what I think folks were asking for given the constraints around the $50 million,” Lehman said Wednesday during a stimulus-related webinar hosted by the Hartford Business Journal and New Haven Biz.

Other developments are expected later today, including an update from Gov. Ned Lamont’s Reopen Connecticut Advisory Group of health experts and business people.

Lamont has asked the group to target May 20, not for fully reopening the state’s economy, but to submit its recommendations on reopening commerce in a safe and healthy manner.

Lehman, who is a member of the nearly 50-person group, didn’t offer any previews Wednesday of what might come out of the group Thursday or in the near future.

Those decisions, he said, are going to depend on COVID-19-related epidemiological data as well as availability of masks and other protective gear.

Lehman said he’s been spending most of his time the past few weeks on recovery-related planning, including discussions with industries about how and when they can reopen and what safety protocols should be in place.

Residents, he added, need to be safe, but they also need to be convinced that they’re safe. If the economy were fully reopened immediately, many may not be willing to venture out, he said.

Connecticut’s economy has been deeply harmed by the pandemic.

It’s going to affect state revenue to the tune of $500 million in the current fiscal year that ends June 30, Lehman said. An estimate for the coming year is expected out of Lamont’s budget office soon.

The state has received more than 400,000 jobless claims, which Lehman said sticks out compared to other states.

”It looks like we have some of the higher unemployment claims relative to our labor force,” he said. ”It's certainly possible you could have an unemployment rate that is at or approaching 20%.”

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