[munk-a]

There are also possibly other routes for the inherent property costs. The details haven't been clear but it it looking like lease payments might be freezable pretty soon.

The one thing that businesses absolutely shouldn't be doing right now, though, is retaining surplus staff. This is depressing and such, but the correct way for us to deal with this issue as a society is to push those folks who need assistance in these times onto unemployment and bolster that program, giving the best chances for business to come through the far side of the pandemic able to open their doors again.

If you state/locality has laws around temporary layoffs this is the perfect time to exercise them, most such laws will defer any mandatory severance[1] until the employee is refused work or fired - but still allows those employees access to safety net funding.

Please do note, I've been following Canada a bunch closer than the US but it is my impression that the US response is working pretty similarly.

1. Usually not a thing in the US, but it is pretty standard elsewhere.

[ta1234567890]

> but it it looking like lease payments might be freezable pretty soon.

Is that in Canada or the US?

If the US, do you have a link to that info? I haven't seen any talks of lease/mortgage/rent freezes outside of Europe and LatAm.

Thank you.

[munk-a]

In the US it looks like some businesses have been refusing to pay rent[1], California has asked banks (who agreed except Bank of America) to freeze mortgage payments for 90 days[2] and there is a national freeze on evictions in the US for residential properties overseen by HUD or backed by Freddie/Fannie Mac[3]. Unfortunately it looks like you're correct in the US, no specific help is guaranteed.

I'd still suggest trying to reach out to your landlord to defer payments if you own a commercial property - some sectors of the economy are fine, but Amazon isn't going to want to move into an old Wendy's for extra office space. Since everyone nation-wide is in the same boat there is some safety in leaning on the crisis. Do try and preserve any liquid assets in your business as long as possible, they may be required for funding an attempt to qualify for relief or to spin up the business on the far side of the virus and that money is more valuable in the pockets of small business than in real-estate owners that, honestly, aren't facing this crunch nearly as hard since their main pressure would be from property tax & utility requirements.

1. https://la.eater.com/2020/3/25/21194144/cheesecake-factory-r...

2. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/26/us/90-day-mortgage-relief...

3. https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-evicti...