WASHINGTON – Today, the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) announced a final extension of disaster relief deadlines for Los Angeles wildfire survivors, as local permitting obstacles and insurance disputes continue to prevent thousands of residents from rebuilding. This action gives approved SBA borrowers 24 months from the date of their loan authorization agreement to draw down their funds, including Home and Business Physical Disaster Loans.
“The Trump Administration has delivered unprecedented relief for Los Angeles wildfire survivors, approving more than $3.4 billion in SBA assistance, extending that relief multiple times, demanding permitting relief, and advocating for L.A. residents where state and local leaders failed to champion their recovery. Yet, a year and a half later, thousands of survivors are still prevented from rebuilding because state and local leaders have let permitting backlogs and insurers keep them in limbo,” said SBA Administrator Kelly Loeffler. “In response to the slowest disaster recovery in modern history, the SBA is offering a final extension with a simple expectation that local leaders and insurers will finally do their jobs. Survivors of this tragedy deserve to rebuild their lives and homes, and those who have stood in the way must answer with results.”
In total, SBA has approved over $3.4 billion in funding for Los Angeles in support of nearly 13,000 borrowers, representing over half of all disaster assistance delivered by the agency in Fiscal Year 2025. Typically, disaster survivors have six months from the date of SBA loan approval to fully disburse their approved funds. The agency initially extended its disaster loan disbursement deadlines in October of last year after determining that extraordinary delays for rebuild permits and widespread backlogs were preventing California borrowers from drawing down approved loan funding. The agency again extended the deadline in January 2026.
In February 2026, following President Donald J. Trump’s Executive Order “Addressing State and Local Failures to Rebuild Los Angeles after Wildfire Disasters,” SBA Administrator Kelly Loeffler and EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin visited Los Angeles to press local officials to cut red tape and move rebuilding forward. In the months since, permit approvals have nearly doubled to about 6,500 across the City and County of Los Angeles.
Yet thousands of wildfire survivors remain stuck between local bureaucracy and insurance failures, including permitting delays, claim disputes, slow payouts, and insurer conduct that has left many families struggling to rebuild. Insurers retreated from California as wildfire risk surged and Sacramento failed to prevent the crisis or maintain a regulatory system that could keep up with it. The Trump Administration has worked to address both challenges — offering the SBA Builder Self-Certification option to help borrowers bypass permitting delays and backing efforts to ensure insurers do not deny wildfire victims a fair chance to recover.
SBA’s disaster loan program provides long-term, low-interest financing to help survivors repair or replace damaged homes and businesses. This extended timeline reflects the agency’s continued commitment to delivering federal recovery resources to the people of Los Angeles. Borrowers with questions about their loan status or disbursement process should contact the SBA’s Disaster Assistance Customer Service Center at (800) 659-2955 or email disastercustomerservice@sba.gov.
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About the U.S. Small Business Administration
The U.S. Small Business Administration helps power the American dream of entrepreneurship. As the leading voice for small businesses within the federal government, the SBA empowers job creators with the resources and support they need to start, grow, and expand their businesses or recover from a declared disaster. It delivers services through an extensive network of SBA field offices and partnerships with public and private organizations. To learn more, visit www.sba.gov.