Landlords complain of roadblocks in rent subsidy program
CMHC apologizes for glitches hindering disbursement of funds
OTTAWA— Sanjay Uppal wants to help. He really does.
But he says the federal government isn’t making it easy.
Uppal, 47, describes himself as a small commercial landlord who co-owns storefront properties in Oakville and Cambridge. For more than a week, Uppal said he has been scrambling to gather all the required information and fill out all the paperwork so he can apply for the government’s commercial rent subsidy on behalf of11business tenants who can’t pay their rent.
Along the way, he said he was forced to restart the process several times and faced constant technical glitches with the online portal for the program. And while all the applications were submitted Wednesday — eight days after he started the process — Uppal said he still hasn’t received “a penny” from the subsidy that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced in April but didn’t open for applications until May 25.
By now, Uppal said he and his business partner Perminder Dhaliwa l are owed about $130,000 in unpaid rent going back to April and are pulling from lines of credit to keep up with their mortgage payments.
“We’re trying to be good.
We’re trying to give everyone discounts,” Uppal told the Star by phone Thursday.
“We’re listening to the government, we’re listening to the programs, we’re listening to Doug Ford, and we got nothing in return — nothing but debt … They just made the program way too hard.”
The federal Liberals have touted the Canada Emergency Commercial Rent Assistance program as a measure to help small and medium-sized businesses cover their rents during the nationwide lockdowns that have shuttered restaurants and shops for weeks this spring. If landlords agree to apply and forgo at least 25 per cent of the rent, the provincial and federal governments will cover half the rents for April, May and June through a forgivable loan from the Canada Mortgage and
Housing Corporation.
More than a week after the program opened, however, CMHC received only16,000 applications, federal Finance Minister Bill Morneau’s office told the Star Wednesday. As of December 2017, there were almost 1.2 million small and medium-sized businesses in Canada, according to federal statistics.
The dearth of applications prompted Premier Doug Ford to scold landlords for not applying with their tenants for the program, while Morneau’s office says Ottawa is “encouraging” them to do so.
On Thursday, Mayor John Tory added his voice to the fray, supporting Ford’s call to “play hardball” with landlords so they apply for the program.
One organization of large commercial landlords, however, says it’s not fair for politicians to lambaste property owners. Michael Brooks is the chief executive officer of RealPAC, told the Star that members of his organization have reported obstacles in the application process. There have been technical problems and long wait times when landlords have tried calling CMHC, while these property owners are also responsible for corralling all the paperwork for an application loaded with “onerous obligations,” he said.
“I’m a little pissed off with Doug Ford and others complaining that landlords aren’t applying,” Brooks said, describing how one member of his organization has roughly 2,000 tenants.
“The administrative burden of this is crazy,” he said.
In an emailed response to questions from the Star on Thursday, CHMC spokesperson Leonard Catling said the online application portal is getting hit with “very high demand” and acknowledged “many are still having technical issues and are frustrated with the call wait times, which can range between two and three hours.”
To address these problems, Catling said the CMHC is increasing capacity at its call centres, working on glitches on its website and providing “tips and tricks” to help applicants resolve technical issues themselves.
“We apologize and continue to work hard troubleshooting these challenges,” he said. “We know thousands of small business owners and commercial property owners are relying on this program to help them get through this pandemic.”
For Uppal, the ordeal has been a “frustrating” experience that has left him feeling like the government promised a major rent relief program long before it had worked out how to deliver it.
“I’m just sitting here waiting, waiting, waiting and nothing’s coming,” he said.
“They’ve over-promised to tenants and they’ve under-delivered to the landlords.”