Photo by Vince Fedoroff
PRACTISING PROFESSIONAL DISTANCING – Energy, Mines and Resources Minister Ranj Pillai, left, and John Streicker, the minister of Community Services, keep their distance at Thursday afternoon’s press conference in the Yukon Government Main Administration Building foyer.
The Yukon government has passed new regulations to prevent tenant evictions, and established a rebate program for paid sick leave.
The Yukon government has passed new regulations to prevent tenant evictions, and established a rebate program for paid sick leave.
It has also removed the 90-day restriction for Yukon nominees and waived fees for airlines.
“There’s no question that these are challenging times,” Ranj Pillai, the Minister of Energy, Mines and Resources, told a news conference late Thursday afternoon.
“Yukoners are experiencing anxiety and hardship right now, and there is uncertainty all around us.”
Thursday’s slew of announcements will support individuals and businesses during COVID-19 closures.
New regulations were passed under the Residential Landlord and Tenant Act yesterday.
Evictions are now banned for the next 90 days for tenants who are unable to pay rent on time due to COVID-19.
“The chief medical officer of health (Dr. Brendan Hanley) has stressed how important our homes are right now for social distancing, for self-isolation; our homes are where we go to be safe,” said John Streicker, the minister of Community Services.
This measure will defer rent payments for individuals who have lost their jobs, experience a reduction in income or are self-isolating.
Tenants are expected to provide unpaid rent after the 90-day leniency period, or sooner if they’re able.
This measure also allows tenants to end their tenancy early without penalty if they have lost their job or experienced income reductions.
If a tenant is threatening property or the safety of others, landlords are able to request an exemption from the eviction freeze.
The measure includes all tenancy agreements, including those held by Yukon businesses.
This announcement comes one week after the Yukon NDP secured a written commitment from the ruling party to ensure nobody is evicted while facing economic turmoil due to the virus.
Streicker said cabinet members gathered earlier that day to change the regulation.
He said he will be working with the Yukon Landlord Association to implement the measure. He expects landlords will take advantage of mortgage leniencies offered by Canada’s big banks.
The government also announced the launch of a paid sick leave program. Businesses can apply for a rebate paying 10 days of paid sick leave per employee, backdated to March 11.
These rebates are available to businesses that don’t usually provide their staff with paid sick leave. The rebate will apply after all existing regular paid sick leave through the business has been used.
Pillai noted that the rebate program is fluid and will not exclude staff who have been laid off since taking unpaid sick leave.
“Things have moved so quickly, that people who have needed to take time off without sick leave, at this particular time, may be applying for unemployment insurance or another program,” Pillai said.
He added that the rebate program will work on a case-by-case basis and with the understanding that businesses are facing rapidly changing scenarios.
Self-employed Yukoners are also eligible for 10 paid days of sick leave through the rebate program. Individuals applying will be paid based on documented average daily earnings.
A doctor’s note is not required to receive the rebate. Pillai estimated that the paid sick leave program will cost just over $6 million.
There have also been changes made to the Yukon Nominee Program, to support nominees who have been laid off due to COVID-19.
Yukon nominees are no longer required to find new employment within 90 days of being laid off or experiencing a reduction in work hours.
This ensures that nominees will not face the potential loss of residency if they are laid off.
Nominees will not be required to submit a new program application when the public health emergency is over.
To support airlines, the government is waiving all airport landing, aircraft parking fees and loading fees. The fee drop goes into effect on April 1 and will last until Dec. 31.
Richard Mostyn, the minister of Highways and Public Works, said Thursday the change will save businesses approximately $210,000.
The government has also established a COVID-19 Business Advisory Council (see story, p. 6) and will begin regularly surveying business owners to assess the impact of the virus.
Business owners will soon be receiving monthly surveys through various mailing lists as part of the government’s outreach efforts.
“We understand that like all Yukoners, Yukon business owners are experiencing extremely high levels of stress and uncertainty at this time,” Pillai said.
“We are asking as many Yukon businesses as possible to participate in this survey.”
The minister said these announcements are the first in a series of measures to support Yukon businesses. They are part of the $4-million stimulus package announced by Premier Sandy Silver on March 16.
“We want to relieve as much worry as possible for Yukoners during this already stressful and uncertain time,” Pillai said.
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Comments (23)
Up 1 Down 1
Chad on Apr 2, 2020 at 9:15 pm
@Cherls
Real estate is almost always a terrible investment. A home can be a good purchase but almost never a good investment.
Do you see rich billionaire bankers going around buying up homes all the time? NO! they buy parts of companies because companies provide goods and services and therefore grow more.
Real estate is an awful investment and is actually more of a business since it requires substantial personal labor to gather a return.
I bought cruise line stock early last month and its up 20% PURE PROFIT. Go try and make 20% profit off a house in less than a year. Near Impossible.
It makes no sense why you would invest in a house, I'd rather throw money in a Dow Jones or spy 500 futures contract. News flash for lardlords: stock market is designed to go up overtime, just hold.
Truly the only investor class who believes that they're entitled to a free ride and then cry foul when their investments don't pan out. Forward thinking concepts such as distributed ledger technology are completely foreign to these wannabe feudal barons who can barely make a 10% return after mortgage and property taxes. Sad, many such cases.
Up 1 Down 3
Simon on Apr 1, 2020 at 9:45 pm
Right on Chuck, bullseye, no better then the tenant, time to lose it all and go back to being one.
Up 8 Down 3
Peter Steiner on Apr 1, 2020 at 8:33 pm
Just a thought: To ease the pain, City and Government employees should feel the pain as well - not only the average Joe.
Up 7 Down 1
Disruption on Apr 1, 2020 at 3:42 pm
Beyond the health impact, COVID is a massive, but hopefully for us in the Yukon, short-term disruption to supply-demand in the housing market, most specifically to what price the market (renter) can afford to bear, given lower incomes. The economic reaction to that should be lower prices for a short period. After all, suddenly there is no long line of renters with incomes to take the unit if you even try and evict your tenant. So if you do, expect the next tenant to be a lower rent anyway, or you also risk even ending up with a vacancy costing you even more income.
Get past this April 1 with a little flexibility, compassion and patience and once the income support programs kick in most tenants should be able to pay most, maybe not all, of the rents due. Most rental owners should have enough room to handle 20% less rent from a few tenants for a few months. If not, you are probably over-leveraged in the first place.
The banks do not want to take your property right now, last thing they need. They know it's not your fault, foreclosure is a complex and costly process that takes a long time. They do not want your house they won't be able to sell.
Landlords and tenants - you will need to share some of this pain. 'The government' is not going to be able to cover everything for everybody as if nothing has happened.
Up 10 Down 13
Bob on Mar 31, 2020 at 6:15 pm
So since the beginning I have been screaming that we are committing economic suicide and no one cared....everyone is running and hiding in their houses to quote "slow the spread" not stop it.. and the bigger point is, we will all starve. We can't just stop going to work and stop paying our rent and then wait for the government to bail us all out... communism anyone?...Hello....and everyone is sent home but funny that big corp continues to run. Mining is being told to stop and the gold will still be there but eagle gold is busniess as usual... this is the last warning I am going to give....wake up and get back to work or enjoy your future in a third world hell whole. Oh and that government money there throwing around? Where do you think the governments money comes from thin air?.... Wealth redistrubution...... enjoy losing your freedoms and future.
Up 19 Down 2
Cherles on Mar 31, 2020 at 5:06 pm
Streicker is misinformed. No bank is deferring a mortgage on a residence in which the owner is not the primary resident.
Why is this burden being passed to landlords? They are not Social Services, that is the government's job. The government wants a healthy rental market, why would anybody want to be a landlord when the government passes legislation like this that screws landlords over.
Plus good luck collecting on 3 months of back rent from tenants who are generally lower income. When faced with a tab in the thousands, a lot of them will just bail and move to a new rental unit.
Up 12 Down 0
Whitehorse Landlord on Mar 31, 2020 at 2:44 pm
@ Woodcutter Yes, most people trying to make a point do use an argument that supports their claim. Imagine that!
"Let's be realistic. The bank takes your property. Those residences will still be occupied." Are you suggesting the bank will become the new landlord? Hmmm, interesting thought, but I highly doubt it. My tenants would be evicted so the bank could sell the investment property as soon as possible.
We are in good shape re the balance sheet; we will definitely survive this. We are one of the strong, as you call it. The one thing we might not survive is if ALL of our tenants (we have a few) were to delay their payments for an extended time. 3 months we can handle even if all of them did that. 12 months, we could not handle if they all deferred and there was nothing in place to help landlords. Some landlords may not even be in a position to survive 3 months. Who could foresee something like this happening to the economy overnight?
Having said that, I think you missed my point which was: Why should landlords be on the hook financially for a government initiative? Why should I be personally at risk of losing my investment property because of something the gov decides to do? Regardless of the strength of my balance sheet.
Up 9 Down 20
Woodcutter on Mar 31, 2020 at 12:44 pm
@Whitehorse Landlord - way to create a scenario that fits the issue you're trying to advance into the discussion.
Let's be realistic for a change of flavor
The bank takes your property, those residences will still be occupied, it's not free rent, it's a deferment that must be caught up by the end of 90 days.
Like any business with a highly leveraged and week balance sheet it will perish in times of uncertainty. The demise of these businesses that are at best marginal, over all are good for the economy in the long run. Nothing like culling the herd, too make a stronger and more robust herd.
Up 19 Down 4
Groucho d'North on Mar 30, 2020 at 6:05 pm
Both the federal and territorial Liberals are ignoring the needs of seniors in their support programs thus far. Providing funding programs to employers large and small I do support, but there is no guarantee that the money will flow to the employees who need it.
Here is my situation: I am a 64 year old retiree with a pension that allows us to just squeak by each month. To shore up the lack of money at the end of the month, I went and got a part time job which allows us to live comfortably like before I retired. Before the carbon tax, more GST and the stimulation for vendors to raise prices to maintain their profit margins in this new tax reality.
My part time job was closed due to the isolation policies the governments enacted, so even if my employer could access these financial support programs, we will remain closed and I will not be called back to work until the social distancing policies are cancelled or a vaccine is developed and made available.
I do not qualify for EI as I receive income from my pension, even though the government has no problem deducting tax from my part-time paycheque each month. I am looking for a new job because I have zero faith the governments will put something in place for us seniors struggling to make ends meet.
I know my situation is still much better than many other seniors and I am grateful I still have my health and ability to work. I am hopeful the EI policies will be amended to allow those in my similar situation to qualify for benefits to off-set the ever increasing cost of living- which is a large component of taxes.
Up 31 Down 0
Whitehorse Landlord on Mar 30, 2020 at 5:01 pm
@ Chuck Who said anything about landlords being better than renters? I am a landlord; I do not think I'm better than my tenants. Perhaps I live month to month and they live paycheque to paycheque, but that doesn't make one better than the other. The struggle is real for everyone.
Up 43 Down 6
Whitehorse Landlord on Mar 30, 2020 at 11:04 am
Consider this scenario for all those down on landlords:
The gov wants to end hunger (awesome ideology). The gov develops a new initiative to feed those hungry people: they order all restaurants to feed the hungry. The hungry people cannot pay. Are those restaurants that have been ordered to feed them now responsible to pay for the food that is needed to implement the gov's honourable initiative? I don't think so. Surely there would be a plan in place for those restaurants to recoup their costs of providing those meals from the gov.
This is basically what everyone seems to be asking of landlords. The gov says you can defer your rent payments for up to three months without risk of eviction. I do not disagree with this initiative; I support providing assistance to anyone who needs it in these trying times. BUT - Why should landlords be on the hook financially to pay for the gov's new initiative?
The gov should also be implementing (and I do read in the release that the politicians will be considering landlords' needs now so kudos to the Minister for that) some kind of system to support the landlords who may not be getting rent because of this gov initiative.
And before you beat me up, I do have enough to cover my rental mortgage payments for three months and I have already spoken to my most vulnerable tenants to make sure they knew they would not be evicted if they are late with their rent (and this before the gov announced this initiative). If this continues however, and if all our tenants choose to defer their rent payments, we WILL need assistance or we will lose our rental building. If every landlord was to lose their rental property because they can't make their mortgage payments, then there will be even less rental housing available. Think about that.
We consider ourselves as providing much needed housing - filling the gaps in gov service... lack of affordable housing, etc. We are not slumlords and we try to keep the rent as affordable as possible. We took a financial risk to help people who need a place to live. And now you want to dis me for that and make me pay for a gov initiative on top of it all?
I look forward to seeing how the gov will protect those landlords who need protection from losing their properties because of this (needed) initiative.
Up 36 Down 6
Douglas Martens on Mar 30, 2020 at 10:39 am
Having just read the above article with total fascination, I would first like to announce that I am one of the guilty. I am one of the hated land"lords" although I have never liked the title.
And I think a 3 month moratorium on rent is a great idea!
Here we see the generosity of the YTG in full display. And I hereby rise to the challenge and will be providing rent free accommodation to my tenants for the next 3 months as per governmental edict. I am now on the public record.
And Why do I think this is great? Well, when you think about it, who is the biggest landlord in the Yukon if not the YTG and the Federal Government of Canada? And I very well recall the YTG evicting Shelley Cuthbert from crown land on which she was camping in 40 below weather, when she was in need. So, condemning anyone for evicting a tenant at this point, seems a bit over the top. But hey, you guys call the shots!
But now, with all that out of the way, I would like to issue a challenge to the YTG to give every Yukon property owner a break on our property taxes, you know, in the spirit of good faith? Say, three months of zero property taxes? Would that be fair? No discrimination allowed either guys. Mall owners should also benefit. We do want to be fair to everyone, do we not?
And while we are at it, let's all be kind to one another. Perhaps every one of the bureaucrats who made this decision would be willing to also work for free for the next 3 months? You know, in the spirit of good will? Leadership requires setting an example, guys and people who do not practice what they preach are often held in low regard, am I right?
Up 20 Down 1
Woodcutter on Mar 30, 2020 at 9:32 am
@ Pierre. Try reading the article again, nowhere does it say " free". It states very clearly the responsibility still lies with the tenant to have all rents paid on or before the end of the moratorium.
@renter. Let me assure you being a slum lord is not a passive investment, it requires hands on management and labour. My REITS on the other hand are passive investment.
Up 18 Down 38
Woodcutter on Mar 29, 2020 at 10:56 am
I notice all the capitalist are now crying "me me meeeeee" now that they realize that being an over priced highly leveraged slum lord takes a back seat to the over all public health.
It's too bad you made a decision, that if your tenant won't pay the rent you lose your own home, however that was your decision not the governments. Now you want me the taxpayer to cover you but? Now you want the taxpayer to continue enriching your own pockets?
Yup a typical capitalist view point.
Up 33 Down 10
iBrian on Mar 29, 2020 at 6:48 am
Oh wow. Liberal math going on here, $6,000,000.00 in paid sick leave in a Territory with 30,000 people, not workers. Over a 10 day period!!!
The Admin Fees are killing us.
Minister Pialli says we’re in some Difficult times. You don’t say bud! Your party has blocked off close to 60% of the Yukon from Mineral staking. So Mining is not a back up option now. Tourisim, seems we’re getting all our eggs in 1 Basket.
We will go over a 30% unemployment rate in Canada before the cure is found. We haven’t seen that level since 1930.
We don’t even have a cure yet, we’re not even out of the dark with this COV19. We’re still a long ways away from being able to use the term “in recovery”.
Am I the only one seeing this?
People talk about the recession of 2008-09. That was nothing. We’re already in a worse state now.
Western Canada Select oil barrels traded at $4.58 USD a barrel last week!!!
In 2008-09 barrels were up on the $90’s.
We have nowhere to take the money from. Except our children and our grandchildren. Stop borrowing from the Future current government.
Up 19 Down 32
T on Mar 28, 2020 at 8:09 pm
@Yukoner76. So, to retire peacefully you thought it would be a good idea to take out a loan to finance property and rent it out to the poorest people in society who can only afford to pay their rent on a pay check to pay check basis. What did you expect? If you're not able to have this thing under control when people can't pay the rent, then it was just a gamble and you lost. You leveraged your savings on what? Several hundred thousand dollars of debt through a mortgage. Then you expect the lowest members of society to just give you money consistently every month without consequences? That's an insane idea you had, and the worse thing is that you are also damaging our society with your poor decisions. Not to mention, if you get foreclosed on you get your money back after fees, so I'm not going to cry over you being made to cash out on a failed investment.
Up 21 Down 29
Chuck on Mar 28, 2020 at 7:26 pm
A message to the landlords: If rental payments are your only source of income, you need the rent to pay the mortgage, and/or you have no money saved for contingencies then you are no better than the renters who cannot currently pay. If you do not have those things then you can afford to help your renters during a hard time by deferring the rent or reducing it.
Up 23 Down 37
Renter on Mar 28, 2020 at 5:35 pm
Oh nooooo! Not my passive income stream! Whatever shall I do now that my tenants have lost their jobs!? Where is the government to bail me out when I need them!? Why didn't I play it smart and invest in precious metals instead!? I missed the dip on silver and gold because I wasn't paying attention! Government please help me! I'm terrible at investing!
Up 24 Down 36
Anonymous on Mar 28, 2020 at 4:15 pm
@Yukoner79
Imagine investing in real estate with not so much as a safety net or backup plan in place. Imagine owning a home and having others pay your mortgage for you, only to turn around and blame the government for your own shortcomings. Imagine the level of hubris and entitlement this guy has for complaining about losing a home he doesn't even live in which is generating virtually passive income. LMAO, ok boomer.
Up 36 Down 8
Pierre on Mar 28, 2020 at 1:47 pm
So rent is now free in The Yukon for 90 days, Landlords cannot do anything...is this the message? So will the banks be treating the landlords the same, no need to pay mortgage for 90 days, if that is not legislated then the aforementioned is ridiculous.
Up 16 Down 35
Jack k on Mar 28, 2020 at 10:24 am
All those measures in place... for 3 cases of covid... lol
Up 50 Down 17
Yukoner79 on Mar 27, 2020 at 6:14 pm
I appreciate the whole “not evicting people when they are down” scenario. I truly do. I rented for many years. What I don’t appreciate is putting out word of this without any details. I am a landlord. I own a condo which I rent out ($1500/mo - VERY fair rent). This is in addition to my primary residence. I DO NOT have the safety net of a deferral on my mortgage. My tenant’s rent pays close to my mortgage. I pay condo fees and insurance on top, to keep the rent fair. So my question is this. Who, Minister Streicker, will be paying my mortgage since you now have told my tenant that they do not have to pay rent. Or can be “deferred” for 90 days.
Who makes sure I do not lose my home? My hours have also been cut back. My bank is not one of the big 6 banks offering deferrals, and if it was, they wouldn’t do so because it is not my primary residence. So I suppose if worst comes to worst, I lose my house and my tenant loses her home? This government has not thought ANYTHING THROUGH. Is Ms. White going to pay my mortgage? I have been put in a position where I am going to lose my home unless I can borrow money from someone to cover my tenants rent, thanks to my own government. If they are going to put something like this in place, they better PAY UP.
Up 44 Down 12
JC on Mar 27, 2020 at 4:13 pm
A 3 month eviction ban for tenants who can't pay their rent. You know what that means - Landlords just discovered a whole lot of people who can't/won't pay their rent. And what about the owners and landords? Do they just suck up the loss? Or can they go after the government for it?