NEW YORK — The Small Business Administration (SBA) has exhausted its funds allocated for disaster assistance loans, resulting in a significant delay for individuals seeking aid due to the devastation caused by Hurricanes Helene and Milton.

The SBA provides Economic Injury Disaster Loans designed to assist both businesses and individuals affected by natural disasters. Previous announcements indicated that the agency anticipated depleting its funds by the month’s end. While Congress has the ability to approve additional funding, it will not reconvene until November 12.

As a result of this funding shortfall, the SBA has decided to suspend new loan offers until further financial resources are secured. Consequently, loans that have yet to be offered will experience delays of at least one month. Despite the funding issue, SBA Administrator Isabel Casillas Guzman encouraged individuals to continue submitting applications for the loans.

The SBA’s application portal remains open, and the agency’s disaster recovery centers and personnel are still active nationwide. They will keep accepting new applications and helping borrowers prepare to receive their disaster loan offers as soon as funding is made available by Congress.

To date, the SBA has received approximately 37,000 applications for relief from individuals impacted by Hurricane Helene and an additional 12,000 applications from those affected by Hurricane Milton. Moreover, the SBA has successfully issued over 700 loan offers related to Hurricane Helene, amounting to around $48 million.