Ontario-Canada Emergency Commercial Rent Assistance Program (OCECRA)

The Prime Minister in conjunction with the provincial governments announced the Emergency Commercial Rent Assistance (CECRA) which will lower rent costs by 75 per cent for small business tenants that have been affected by the COVID-19 shutdown. Qualifying commercial property owners will receive forgivable loans, to cover 50 per cent of three monthly rent payments from small businesses facing financial hardship during April, May, June.  On June 30th the government announced the extension of the program to include July as well. The CMHC administers CECRA for small business on behalf of the Government of Canada and the Province.

• The program will provide forgivable loans to qualifying commercial property owners to cover 50 per cent of FOUR monthly rent payments that are payable by eligible small business tenants who are experiencing financial hardship during April, May, June and now July.
• The loans will be forgiven if the mortgaged property owner agrees to reduce the eligible small business tenants’ rent by at least 75 per cent for the FOUR 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 per cent of the rent.
• Impacted small business tenants are businesses 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. This support will also be available to non-profit and charitable organizations.

The federal government has confirmed that CECRA is available to all landlords, regardless of whether or not they currently have a mortgage.

For more up-to-date details visit the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation website: https://www.cmhc-schl.gc.ca/en/finance-and-investing/covid19-cecra-small-business