The Ontario government, in partnership with the federal government, extended the Canada Emergency Commercial Rent Assistance (CECRA) for small businesses by one month to help eligible small business pay rent for August. To find out how much rent support you may be eligible for, visit Ontario.ca/rentassistance.
Rod Phillips, Minister of Finance, issued the following statement:
“Our government has promised to be there to support people and jobs since the pandemic first hit our province,” said Rod Phillips, Minister of Finance. “By extending support for commercial rent at the same time most of the province is in stage three, the province of Ontario is helping more businesses get through this challenging period so they have an opportunity to recover and welcome back their customers.”
To learn more and apply for the CECRA for small businesses, visit the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation’s (CMHC) application portal.
- The province committed $241 million to the program, which would provide more than $900 million in support for small businesses across Ontario during this difficult time.
- The CECRA for small businesses is administered by the CMHC. Support covers April, May, June, July and August 2020. Existing applicants need to reapply for the month of August and have until September 14, 2020 to do so. New applicants have the choice of applying for the three-month initial period, four months or five months, but need to do so by the original date of August 31, 2020.
- The CECRA for small businesses has been developed to share the cost of rent between small business tenants, landlords and the governments of Ontario and Canada. Small business landlords would be asked to forgive at least 25 per cent of the tenant’s total rent, tenants would be asked to pay up to 25 per cent of rent and the provincial and federal government would share the cost of the remaining 50 per cent.
- Partnering with the federal government to deliver rent assistance builds on the government’s actions to support small businesses during COVID-19. As part of Ontario’s Action Plan: Responding to COVID-19, the first phase of the government’s response, the province has implemented $10 billion in cash flow supports to help support jobs and businesses through tax and other deferrals.