SBA Disaster Loans, Reopened Recovery Center Expand Isaias Aid for Freeport Residents
Freeport households and businesses still rebuilding from Hurricane Isaias can now tap low-interest federal disaster loans from the U.S. Small Business Administration. In-person help with the paperwork arrives Thursday, Nov. 5, when Walton County reopens its Multi-Agency Resource Center in DeFuniak Springs for a run that lasts into December.
The SBA opened its loan window to Walton County this week with interest rates as low as 3% and repayment terms stretching up to 30 years. Homeowners and renters can borrow to repair or replace storm-damaged property, and businesses and nonprofits can apply for both physical damage and economic losses. Applications for physical damage loans are due Dec. 28, 2026; the deadline for economic injury loans is July 27, 2027. Applications are taken online at lending.sba.gov, and the SBA’s customer service line is 1-800-659-2955.
For anyone who would rather work through the forms with a person in the room, the county’s Multi-Agency Resource Center returns Thursday to the DeFuniak Springs Community Center at 361 N. 10th St. Representatives from FEMA, the SBA and local recovery partners will be on-site to assist with registrations, questions and loan applications. The center runs 1 p.m. to 7 p.m. on opening day, then shifts to Monday-through-Saturday hours of 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. through Dec. 5, closed Sundays, with the full operation wrapping up Dec. 6.
The reopening brings back the one-stop recovery format the county first ran at the same DeFuniak Springs venue in the opening weeks of the storm response, and it stacks on top of the help Freeport residents already have in reach: the walk-up FEMA registration points that opened at Freeport City Hall and two other county sites, the Individual Assistance approval that preceded them, and the zero-interest state bridge loans that Freeport’s merchants were steered toward in the storm’s immediate aftermath.
The SBA program is the federal loan arm of that recovery effort — money that, unlike FEMA’s grant assistance, has to be paid back, though the long terms and low rates are designed to keep payments manageable. Residents with questions can call Walton County Emergency Management at (850) 892-8065 or watch mywaltonfl.gov for updates.
Originally reported by WJHG/WECP, with reopening details confirmed by Walton County Emergency Management. Image: Walton County seal, via WJHG/WECP.
