SBA 7(a) Behavioral Health Feasibility Study in Arizona

Arizona behavioral health lending under 7(a) is unusual first in size: the median loan of $450,150 is 1.80x what behavioral health borrowers receive nationally at the 7(a) midpoint, and half of the 48 loans lie between $116,250 and $1.4 million. A wide middle half like that mixes small outpatient practices with larger treatment programs. Gross dollars reach $45.3 million. On loans counted Arizona is sixth nationally for this use, though the use ranks only 16 of 39 inside the state. No loan in the cell was franchised: the share is 0.00%.

Where the loans cluster

Maricopa County dominates with 39 loans, Pinal has 5, and Pima and Yavapai have 2 each. America First Federal Credit Union appears with 7 loans and $14.2 million, and BNC National Bank with 5 and $2.3 million. The credit union's average is large beside the bank's, so a handful of sizeable programs probably sit in its book. SBA's holder records give these tallies, and they measure volume, not lending method.

Year by year

No loans were approved in FY2017. Counts were then 3, 2 and 4 through FY2020, 5 each in FY2021 and FY2022, 7 in FY2023, 3 in FY2024 with only $205,000, and 11 in FY2025, before 8 in FY2026 at $12.1 million. The recent surge is the strongest signal in the cell: borrowing for behavioral health has accelerated in the newest years of data.

Two rates not published

Arizona's cancellation and charged-off rates for this use are both unavailable, with too few loans in each cohort to print. Neither number appears, and neither gap should be mistaken for a zero. That leaves a lender without the usual floors, so the study carries more of the proof.

Competing topics merged, and what the study tests

Counseling and substance-use programs share the same industry codes, so these numbers cannot tell the two apart. An Arizona study must state which service it is for. It should test licensing and the time to obtain it, referral and payer sources, clinician recruitment, the facility's zoning and neighbourhood acceptance, and census ramp-up against fixed cost. Coverage should be tested on a long delay before the first insurance payments, and the appraisal should consider what other use the building could serve if the program closed.