HALIFAX -- Many small businesses have been closed for more than two months during the COVID-19 pandemic, but owners still have bills to pay.
Gyms like 360 Fit in Dartmouth, N.S., were among the first businesses to close their doors in March.
“It’s frustrating. It’s super frustrating,” said owner Devin Sherrington. “We’re doing Facebook live workout for clients, we have a couple of clients that are doing some online training but basically, we’re just shut down.”
In Halifax, the Applehead Studio has been empty for weeks.
“We’ve paid our March rent, we’ve paid our April rent and, they weren’t sure if they were going to take advantage of the current program available to landlords, so we just simply stopped and said, you guys figure it out, I’m not paying the rent,” said Liam Hennessey, who owns the photography studio.
Sherrington says the federal rent program, which will lower rent by 75 per cent for small businesses that have been affected by COVID-19, makes sense.
However, he is critical of the rent deferral program announced by the Nova Scotia government.
Under that program, landlords were encouraged to defer rent payments from their commercial tenants for three months, spreading the deferred rent amount over the rest of the lease term. Participation in the program is voluntary.
“I think the deferral program that Stephen McNeil touted and tried to push out there is an awful idea,” said Sherrington.
“It really is saying borrow some money now and pay it all back later and while you’re borrowing that money, you’re out of work and that’s not possible. All that will do is create enormous problems and put a whole lot of people out of business.”
Hennessey says small businesses don’t need their rent deferred -- they need help.
“I’m struggling to understand why it’s deferred, why landlords are the only people who get to go into business and they’re guaranteed a revenue. I mean, we’ve lost 100 per cent of our revenue. We’re not getting it back, it’s gone,” he said.
Sherrington says the Nova Scotia government needs to do more to support small businesses in the province before it’s too late.
“More than 70 per cent of Nova Scotia works for small businesses, so if we have say, 30 or 40 per cent of small businesses go under, we’re talking 30 to 40 per cent unemployment rate,” said Sherrington. “That’s a disaster.”
As the pandemic lingers on, the Downtown Dartmouth Business Commission would like to see more grants offered to small businesses so they don’t have to take on an increasing debt load.
“We see a lot of small businesses that are maxing out on their capacity to take on more debt,” said Tim Rissesco, executive director of the Downtown Dartmouth Business Commission.
“It would be harder to start a new business and revive the economy if we let some of these really strong businesses, through no fault of their own, fall because of the COVID-19 crisis.”
According to the Nova Scotia government, registration for the Rent Deferral Support Program closed on April 3. Landlords who registered by this date have until May 29, 2020 to submit a full application.
A total of 379 landlords have registered. Registered landlords have deferred a total of $10,715,698 in rent for 1,157 tenants.
