Canada Emergency Commercial Rent Assistance (CECRA) will be extended by one month to September

  • Those who qualified for CECRA based on existing program parameters will be able to apply soon for the additional one month based on having at least a 70 per cent revenue decline for April, May and June, without reassessing whether they continue to have at least a 70 per cent revenue decline in July, August or September. Participation in the one-month extension is voluntary. Both existing applicants to the CECRA and new applicants are able to opt for the September rent reduction.

  • CECRA provides forgivable loans to qualifying commercial property owners, whether they have a mortgage on their property or not. The loans cover 50 per cent of three to six monthly rent payments for eligible small business tenants during April, May, June, July, August and September.

  • The loans will be forgiven if the qualifying property owner agrees to reduce their small business tenants’ rent by at least 75 per cent under a rent reduction 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.

  • Existing applicants will need to reapply for the month of September. New applicants will have the choice of applying for the three-month initial period, four months, five months or six months.

  • Eligible small business tenants are businesses that are paying less than $50,000 per month in gross rent in a given location, with annual revenues of less than $20 million (at the ultimate parent level), and who experienced at least a 70 per cent drop in pre-COVID-19 revenues on average for the period of April, May and June.

  • Details on the September extension will be available on the CMHC website on Wednesday September 9.

Jane Zhao