Businesses and the organizations that represent them are urging the provincial government to change the eligibility rules in its rent relief program.
Bianca Garofalo owns El Tres, Giorg and Bight restaurants and says they’ve alerted several organizations that many businesses in Thunder Bay are not eligible under the current rules, which require landlords to have a mortgage on the property.
“The Chamber of Commerce has and different organizations that I’ve spoken to are advocating for these programs and the wording of them to be changed so they can help as many as possible, they’ve been passing these comments on to the provincial government,” Garofalo said.
The restaurant owner is hopeful the provincial government will hear their concerns and make changes to eligibility rules.
Garofalo says many businesses in Thunder Bay including hers have landlords that don’t have mortgages.
“If the purpose of the program is to help the tenant, then I don’t understand why the landlord must have a mortgage on the property. If the landlord doesn’t have a mortgage on the property does it really matter, as long as they are passing the savings on to the tenant?” Garofalo said.
On April 24th, Ontario’s government announced they were partnering with the federal government to provide urgent relief for small businesses and landlords affected by the COVID-19 outbreak. The province committed $241 million through the new Ontario-Canada Emergency Commercial Rent Assistance Program.
The rent program is meant to provide forgivable loans to eligible commercial property owners experiencing potential rent shortfalls because their small business tenants have been heavily impacted by the COVID-19 crisis. To receive the loan, property owners will be required to reduce the rental costs of small business tenants for April to June 2020 by at least 75 percent and commit to a moratorium on evictions for three months.
