Today Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced further details about the Canada Emergency Commercial Rent Assistance (CECRA) program.
The program has been designed to lower the rent of commercial properties by 75 per cent for affected small businesses, and it will be provided in partnership with the provinces and territories.
The basics of the program are that the rent will be covered by three entities:
- 50% covered by the government via a forgivable loan to property owners
- 25% covered by the property owner
- 25% paid by the tenant
The program will provide forgivable loans to qualifying commercial property owners to cover 50 per cent of three monthly rent payments payable by eligible small business tenants experiencing financial hardship during April, May and June. In order for the loans to be forgiven, the mortgaged property owner will have to agree to reduce the eligible small business tenants' rent by at at least 75 per cent for three months under a rent forgiveness agreement. The agreement will also include a pledge not to evict the tenant while the agreement is in place.
Businesses that are expected to be eligible for the program include:
- Those that are paying less than $50,000 per month in rent and who have temporarily ceased operations; OR
- Have experienced at least a 70 per cent drop in pre-COVID-19 revenues.
The program is expected to be operational mid-May and will be administered and delivered by Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp.
