New York City small businesses that watch their foot traffic vanish behind orange cones and jackhammers could soon have a dedicated city fund to turn to. Legislation known as Introduction 799, sponsored by Council Member Yusef Salaam, would require the Department of Small Business Services to establish a support fund for small retail businesses affected by roadway construction.
The bill is formally described as a local law amending the city's administrative code to create that support fund, according to the New York City Council's legislative file. In an announcement on X, the New York City Council
framed the move bluntly: “Months of construction can drain a local business's revenue. This bill requires the City to create a fund to help small retailers survive those challenging times.” That post, shared under the handle @nyccouncil, stated that the Council had passed the bill, though the available legislation description characterizes Introduction 799 as a requirement for SBS to establish the fund, and the Council's final passage status could not be independently verified from that record.
The concern behind the bill is backed by research well beyond City Hall. Construction can disrupt traffic patterns, patrons' accessibility to businesses, and produce negative impacts on sales revenues, according to the Transportation Research Board Information Services. For a shopkeeper watching sidewalk scaffolding swallow their storefront for weeks or months, that is not an abstract finding, it is the difference between making rent and not.
What the Fiscal Paperwork Does and Does Not Say
The bill's delayed rollout would put its initial fiscal impact in Fiscal Year 2027.
Funding and revenue details remain unspecified, but the proposal sets eligibility criteria, caps grants at $15,000 per storefront per year, calls for SBS to create an application process, and includes geographic and construction-duration criteria.
How Other Cities Have Tackled the Same Problem
New York would not be breaking entirely new ground. Toronto runs a Transit Construction Mitigation Fund offering grants up to $10,000, $25,000, or $50,000, according to the City of Toronto, though that program is limited to business improvement areas and nonprofit organizations rather than for-profit businesses, and its applications are currently closed. The money there is earmarked for marketing, branding, and placemaking projects meant to soften the blow of sustained construction.
San Antonio took a more direct cash approach. Its City Council voted unanimously in April 2025 to move forward with a Construction Mitigation Grant program, as reported by Community Impact, authorizing a roughly $1.39 million contract with LiftFund to administer $1.2 million in direct grants. Eligibility there required businesses sit in a corridor with more than 10 small businesses facing at least 12 months of city-initiated construction. The program offered grants of up to $35,000 across eight project areas.
Closer to home in scale, McHenry, Illinois recently approved its own Route 31 Business Relief Fund Grant on a 6-1 council vote, according to Shaw Local. That program offers reimbursement grants up to $10,000 for brick-and-mortar businesses on Route 31 or Main Street employing no more than 50 people, ahead of a reconstruction project slated to run from April 2027 through 2030. Salt Lake City, meanwhile, offers grants aimed specifically at helping businesses cover marketing costs during city-led construction, per the city's economic development office.
New York's Own Construction Support Efforts
New York City already has some infrastructure in place for construction-affected businesses, though it is not framed as direct financial relief. The NYC Construction Ramp-Up Program is a partnership between the Department of Small Business Services and the Departments of Design and Construction, Transportation, Parks and Recreation, and Environmental Protection, aimed at preparing NYC-certified minority- and women-owned businesses, according to the city's business services site. Separately, the city's Department of Transportation has acknowledged the planning challenge of streets that mix residences and businesses, noting that decisions on work timing weigh the overall impact on a community.
Whether Introduction 799 will resemble other construction-support models in its funding structure remains to be seen.
