On Thursday, the Canada Emergency Commercial Rent Assistance program is coming to an end and businesses in Victoria are calling for a better replacement.
To qualify among requirements for landlord and business cooperation, the business needed to have a 75 per cent decline in revenue from April to June.
Some, like SALT Shop in Victoria and Salt Spring Island, were just shy and did not qualify.
“It sucks to have worked so hard and then not get that little reward a lot of other people got just cause I made just a little too much by a couple per cent,” said owner Jessica Wilson.
Those in charge of buildings say it did help some, but overall the program had many flaws.
“The fact that it required cooperation between the landlord and the tenant was largely a good thing but I think in some cases it prevented tenants getting the help they needed, required at least a 75 per cent reduction in revenues. There was no nuance there for that,” said Fort Properties Ltd. co-owner Jayne Bradbury.
“I think for many of our tenants who saw a significant decline in revenue, the ability for us to extend a 75 per cent reduction in rent for their rent for the government to subsidize us for 50 per cent was huge.”
Recommendations from the business community are to make the program more centred around the businesses and widen eligibility.
“We are hopeful that a more nuisance program that is more accessible and more customization,” said Fort Properties Ltd. co owner Suzanne Bradbury.
The Downtown Victoria Business Association (DVBA) is critical of the program, saying it cut too many out.
“The challenge with the program relied on landlords to be doing all the application and wasn’t open to individual businesses,” said DVBA executive director Jeff Bray.
“We really wanted it to be open to individual businesses. We know the update was significantly less due to the complexity of the program.”
For Wilson, she hopes to qualify under the new program as other assistance from Ottawa has been critical.
“It’s hugely helpful, every little piece I could apply for I did and it definitely gave me a boost. The employee wage subsidy was probably the biggest one for me. It really let me bring back people earlier.”
The federal government says a new program will launch in the months ahead. So far the price tag for the current program from 2020-2021 is $1.5 billion.
Julian Kolsut
