Financial Help for Homeowners during the COVID-19 Pandemic

As the impact of COVID-19 continues to wreak havoc on the daily lives of Canadians, tales are emerging of incredible acts of kindness and community caring such as people checking in on their neighbours and offering to shop for vulnerable house-bound seniors. Even for those who haven’t been touched by the illness itself, the restrictions on movement and the resulting impact on employment has caused plenty of anxiety. How does one pay the mortgage when one’s source of income has dried up? Thankfully, the different levels of government and businesses have stepped up to offer financial relief to cash-strapped homeowners.

Federal Help for Those Affected By COVID-19

Financial Help for Individuals

In offering employers the Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy (CEWS) and the Temporary Wage Subsidy for Employers (TWSE), the government is trying to avert widespread layoffs of Canadian workers. Nonetheless, some companies are having little choice due to drastically reduced revenues and some people are losing their incomes.

The Canada Emergency Response Benefit (CERB) is a taxable benefit providing $2,000 a month for workers (including contract workers and those self-employed) who have lost their income due to COVID-19. Click here for more information.

The Canada Revenue Agency has also extended the deadline for filing 2019 income tax returns to June 1, 2020 and for payments owing to September 1, 2020.

In addition the GST/HST tax credit payment and the Canada Child Benefit (CCS) payment amounts will automatically be increased for those eligible. Click here for more information.

Financial Help for Small Businesses

The Canada Emergency Business Account (CEBA) is a $40,000 loan for small business with over $20,000 in payroll costs. The loan will be interest free for the first year and the last 25% or $10,000 will be eliminated if $30,000 is repaid by December 31, 2022. Click here for more information.

The Business Credit Availability Program (BCAP) will make $12.5 billion in loans available to small and medium businesses through Export Development Canada and the Business Development Bank.

The Canada Emergency Commercial Rent Assistance (CECRA) program will offer attractive loans to commercial landlords in order that they lower or waive rents for small businesses for April, May and June, 2020.

Lastly the CRA is allowing corporations to defer filing 2019 taxes until June 1, 2020 and payments until September 1, 2020 and to defer GST/HST remittances (as of March 27, 2020) until the end of June.

Ontario Provincial Help for Those Affected by COVID-19

With schools closed and large numbers of people working from home, it makes sense for government to help cover the cost of this new reality. Provinces and municipalities are providing financial relief for things like the extra electricity and more garbage from working at home and additional school supplies needed for distance learning.

For a period from March 24 to May 8, 2020, residential and small business customers will pay the off-peak (lowest) rate for electricity all day. There is no need to apply as this will be automatically adjusted by the hydro provider and applied to your bill.

For those paying off student loans, OSAP payments are being forgiven until September 30, 2020 - in other words, make no payments and no additional interest will be charged to your loan. Click here for more information.

For families with children under 12 or older children with special needs, the Ontario government is providing a one-time special payment of $200 or $250 per child respectively to help support at-home learning during physical distancing.

Cities and Municipalities Offer Financial Help for Those Affected by COVID-19

The Ontario provincial government paved the way for overall property tax deferrals by deferring remittance of education property taxes to school boards by 90 days. Cities like Mississauga, Ottawa and Toronto have passed this along to residents by deferring tax payments for April, May and June by 90 days.

Mississauga has offered rent deferrals to tenants in City-owned buildings, delayed payments of stormwater charges, suspended parking enforcement and made public transit free of charge.

The Region of Peel has deferred late payment charges for water bills, and put water and wastewater rate increases on hold until July 1, 2020. In addition, residents are able to throw out 2 extra bags of garbage without the use of garbage tags.

Companies Step Up to Offer Financial Relief for Canadians

Electricity distributer, Alectra, is suspending the charging of late fees on electricity bills for 60 days.

Financial institutions such as TD Bank, RBC Royal Bank, CIBC, Scotiabank, Bank of Montreal and National Bank of Canada are all offering customers who qualify financial relief options such as payment deferrals on mortgage and some loan products.

Some auto insurers are agreeing to reduced rates during the time people are working from home. Call your insurance provider.

Help for Mom-and-Pop Landlords

One area where advocates are still pushing for relief is on mom-and-pop owned income properties. The government has said that evictions for non-payment of rent have been suspended during the stay-at-home period. While extremely helpful for tenants, this is causing financial problems for some small landlords who rely on rental income to pay their bills. In a talk with real estate professionals yesterday, OREA (Ontario Real Estate Association) CEO Tim Hudak said that OREA and other advocacy groups are working to have this situation remedied satisfactorily for both tenants and landlords.