Sen. Warner discusses new legislation that would benefit low-income communities

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. (WVIR) - The COVID-19 pandemic has rattled the whole country, but it has especially impacted low income communities, small businesses, and minority owned businesses.

Virginia Senator Mark Warner hopped on a group Zoom town hall with Charlottesville economic leaders to discuss new legislation that could save under-served populations from drowning.

“There are around 2.8 million Black-owned businesses in America and about 2 million of those are sole proprietorships,” he said. “We’re looking at some projections and as many as 300,000 to 400,000 alone could go under this fall.”

Warner has been working on a bill that would directly benefit Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs) in central Virginia and beyond.

This way, proper relief could be distributed to small minority communities and businesses who would otherwise would be out of luck.

“We’re looking at low income communities particularly after labor day with a potential destruction of many many small businesses,” Warner said. “If these businesses are destroyed, many of them will not be coming back.”

Even after the distribution of PPP loans, many businesses in need came up empty.

“How do we make sure that low income communities have better access to capital?” he asked.

Warner wants billions of federal dollars to go toward loans and grants to help those struggling through the economic woes of the pandemic.

“Our overall plan is about a $17.5 billion infusion of capital into these institutions that lend and make grants into low income communities,” he said.

Warner hopes this investment will provide more than just a quick fix.

“But really over the long term, provide a much larger, more stable base lending capacity into low income communities on a going forward basis,” he added.

In central Virginia, CDFIs like Piedmont Housing Alliance and Community Investment Collaborative would be able to put this grant money to use.

“CDFIs have developed to be that kind of lending institutions and funders of choice to help low income communities,” Warner said. “And this effort to really structurally help these institution I believe will pay dividends long after a vaccine comes out.”

“We’re so appreciative to hear about this legislation because it is certainly what we believe is in the right direction,” Thomas Jefferson Planning District Commission Executive Director Chip Boyles said. “That will help to support and build a strong CDFIs like PHA or CIC.”

Warner says this is the project on his personal plate that is taking top priority when it comes to the next COVID-19 relief package.

“If we don’t make a massive investment, think, you could lose a generation of progress,” he said. “I think it has a high possibility of being in the next package early next week.”

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