The Government of Canada is taking targeted action to support Canadians and Canadian businesses, non-profits and charities that continue to face uncertainty and economic challenges because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The new Canada Emergency Rent Subsidy (CERS) provides direct commercial rent or property expense support to tenants and property owners of qualifying organizations affected by COVID-19.

The new rent subsidy supports businesses, charities, and non-profits that have suffered a revenue drop by providing support up to a maximum of 65% of eligible expenses. Qualifying organizations that are under a lockdown or have significantly limited activities under a public health order will have access to Lockdown Support, a top-up subsidy of 25%, meaning that they could receive rent or property expenses support of up to 90%.

Applicants can claim the subsidy retroactively for the period that began on September 27 and ended on October 24, 2020.

The CRA has launched CERS webpages, an online CERS calculator, and CERS infographics (Take a look at the new Canada Emergency Rent Subsidy, The Canada Emergency Rent Subsidy has got you covered, and We’re here to help) to assist organizations in preparing their applications.

To complement these resources, the CRA will host a series of interactive question and answer sessions for eligible organizations. If you are interested in participating, click here to register. We kindly ask that you register as soon as possible as capacity is limited. We ask that each organization only have one participant register and participate in the session.

The questions gathered during these sessions will be considered by the CRA in its ongoing communications efforts. If there are no more sessions available, you will be able to add your name to a waitlist and we will contact you if we organize future sessions. Please visit the CERS webpages for updates.