Federal Government announces Canada Emergency Commercial Rent Assistance (CECRA) for small businesses
Who Qualifies:
- Businesses paying less than $50,000 per month in rent and who have temporarily ceased operations.
- Businesses who have experienced at least a 70% drop in pre-COVID-19 revenues. This support will also be available to non-profit and charitable organizations.
The Prime Minister also stated that support for larger businesses will be announced in the coming days.
How it Works:
- The program will provide forgivable loans to qualifying commercial property owners to cover 50% of three monthly rent payments that are payable by eligible small business tenants who are experiencing financial hardship during April, May, and June.
- The loans will be forgiven if the mortgaged property owner agrees to reduce the eligible small business tenants’ rent by at least 75% for the three corresponding months under a rent forgiveness agreement, which will include a term not to evict the tenant while the agreement is in place. The small business tenant would cover the remainder, up to 25% of the rent.
Timeline:
- It is expected that CECRA will be operational by mid-May, with commercial property owners lowering the rents of their small business tenant’s payable for the months of April and May, retroactively, and for June.
- Further details on CECRA will be shared in the near future once final terms and conditions are available.