Commercial evictions banned during pandemic if landlords are eligible for rent assist: Manitoba government

Some Manitoba business owners will not have to worry about being evicted during the COVID-19 pandemic, the province announced Friday.

The Manitoba government has placed a temporaryban on commercial evictionsif landlords and tenants are eligible for theCanadian emergency commercial rent assistance (CECRA) program but have not applied, the province said.

"We know this has been a tough time for many businesses and it should not be made worse through an eviction if a business does not have the ability to pay rent on time," Finance Minister Scott Fielding said in a release.

"It is our hope that this temporary measure will protect businesses, and at the same time spark increased participation in the federally and provincially cost-shared CECRA program."

The change is intended to encourage more landlords and businesses to participatein the federal-provincial cost-shared CECRAprogram, Fielding said.

The commercial rent assist program isfor small businesses being hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic. But Manitobahas only received 145 applicationsand paid out $1.5 million of the available $64 million through the program, the province said.

CECRA offers subsidies from the two levels of government to help reduce a business tenant's rent by up to 75 per cent for April through to June. But to be eligible, theproperty owner must forgive a share of the rent and agreenot to evict the tenant for themonths it covers.

Some business owners have said the program is too complicated and that they've had trouble getting landlords to agree to participate.

"We're happy that the province is talking about the [commercial] rent issue," said Colin Fast, director of policy with the Winnipeg Chamber of Commerce, adding that a main concern of many chambermembers ismaking rent.

"But I don't think this addresses the real problem," Fastsaid. "The way [CECRA] was designed in the first place had some flaws in it, in that it kind of pits one kindof business owners the landlords against another group, which isthe tenants."

Many landlords aren't large national corporations, so asking landlords to give up money is a hard ask, heexplained.

"What we really need is a solution that will address this now," said Fast.

"A lot of small businesses are dealing with so many differed payments; we've had taxes that have been deferred and utility payments that have been deferred, and now you're essentially talking about deferring rent in some form or another," he said.

"At some point, all these bills are going to come due, so instead I think we really need to take a look at how the program's designed and figure that can help those businesses and those landlords right now."

Friday's announcement is a step forward, especially since it comes before rent is due next Tuesday, said Jonathan Alward,director of provincial affairs for the Manitoba branch of the Canadian Federation of Independent Business.

Butthe realityis that CECRAis "a complicatedprogram," he said.

Itrequires tenants to have at least a 70 per cent drop in revenue for three months,landlords must initiate the application process and then provide 25 per cent of the rent for tenants.

"Ultimately it's a judgmentcallwhether or not you think that tenant is going to be able to pay in the long run," said Alward."But it's clear that a lot of landlords haven't taken the offer,I think for good reason."

Alward hopes Friday's announcement doesn't have a significant impact, because that would mean businesses are not being evicted, he said.

Jamie Moses, the OppositionNDP'scritic for economic development and training, saysthe announcement is "too little, too late."

"Small business owners have been calling for a freeze on evictions for months, and some have been forced to close down permanently due to their inability to pay rent," Moses said in an emailed statement.

"Yet the province waited until Phase 3, when businesses are already allowed to open, to do this."

Both the Winnipeg Chamber of Commerce and the CFIBhave pushed forthe province to take some of the unused funding earmarked for other relief programs, and put it toward helping commercial landlords and tenants, in order to avoid having to rely on rent assist.

Applications for theCECRA program are open until Aug. 31.