Addressing Fixed Costs to Keep Small Businesses Afloat During COVID-19 Shutdowns
According to a Save Small Business survey, 38% of small businesses will default on their commercial rent by April 1, and 70% by May 1. We are calling on all levels of government and banks to come together to prevent massive default on rent. We have submitted the below proposal to the federal government to support small businesses and landlords to survive COVID-19. We need solutions that don’t require us going into unmanageable debt.
Save Small Business, long with the Toronto Association of Business Improvement Areas, submitted a proposal for a rent abatement strategy to the federal government last week that calls for (1) the federal government to provide grants to landlords that waive rent to small business tenants; (2) provincial governments to put a moratorium on commercial rent lockouts; (3) banks to pause property debt payments without paying interest; and (4) all levels of government to work to ease property tax and utility payments.