Many sober living homes are struggling during the COVID-19 outbreak.
Sober living homes rely on residents to pay rent so that they can remain solvent. When residents (or their families) lose their jobs or have their hours cut back in response to the pandemic, rent payments start falling through the cracks. When sober living homes’ cash flow takes a hit, mortgage and utility payments are at risk.
We are also seeing that fewer people are entering treatment (and therefore sober living homes) during the pandemic for a variety of factors, one of which is certainly the financial strain being felt throughout the country. With fewer new residents to fill vacancies, many sober living homes are not operating at full capacity. In some cases, this means that profit margins are suffering. In others, it means the entire enterprise is at risk.
There is help out there for sober living home businesses. Today, we’ll look at your options for relief during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Where to Look for Help for Sober Living Home Relief During the COVID-19 Pandemic
Assistance can come to your sober living home in the form of loans, debt relief programs, and/or grants. Where you locate this assistance will depend in some part on the nature of your business structure and the physical location of your business.
Some forms of assistance—such as those administered by the federal government—will be available nation-wide. We’ll cover those national assistance programs in the next section.
While national programs are worthwhile, local governments and organizations are also good sources of assistance. This guide will not be able to identify every source of relief available to every location in the country. You’ll have to do some sleuthing on the resources available to you locally to find more regional programs.
Some key places to look for local assistance include:
Your municipal government
Your county government
Your state government
Your state’s economic development agency
Local business associations and advocacy groups
Understanding the CARES Act for Sober Living Homes
With the CARES Act (Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security), the US Congress just OK’ed an additional $310 billion in funding to be funneled into the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP). This program generates federally backed loans for small businesses which can be forgiven as long as the receiving business maintains its payroll during the crisis or restores its payroll after the crisis has ended.
To qualify for CARES Act money, your business must:
Have less than 500 employees
Be defined as “small” by the SBA
Make no more than $15 million per year
There are also other requirements and rules to the CARES Act PPP program that you can read about here.
SAMHSA Assistance for Sober Living Homes?
SAMHSA is really only offering assistance to government-run programs and tribal government treatment programs, so unfortunately, they’re not a good source of relief if you’re a privately-owned business. If your organization can be described as government-run, then SAMHSA’s coronavirus grant programs might be your best bet.
FEMA Disaster Assistance for Sober Living Homes During COVID-19
FEMA’s low-interest, long-term loans are a good fit for businesses in areas affected by disasters. Although they are mostly designed to help businesses fix or replace assets lost in a natural disaster scenario, their website states that the loans can also be used “in some cases...to refinance all or part of a prior mortgage,” which could certainly help a sober living home struggling to cover mortgage payments.
You can read about FEMA’s Disaster Assistance program here.
During These Uncertain Times, We’re Here to Help
The Sober Living App’s team is here to help you and your business get through these unusual times. It’s more important than ever for sober living homes to run lean and stay agile. Our all-in-one software solution for sober living home management streamlines your business and saves you time and money every day. Why not give our app a try today and claim your free trial so you can see the Sober Living App difference for yourself?