By RASHAD ROLLE

Tribune Senior Reporter

rrolle@tribunemedia.net

PRIME Minister Dr Hubert Minnis announced long-awaited details of his rental assistance programme yesterday, revealing an initiative that will be based on deferrals and will apply only to residential rentals.

He said people who qualify for the programme will be able to postpone upto 40 percent of their rent payment for the next three months, beginning this month.

“This means for example, that if an individual’s rent is $800 per month, they will be required to pay $480 per month over the next three months,” he said. “The remainder will be deferred or postponed.”

The programme, he said, will apply only to people whose employment or income has been affected by COVID-19.

He said landlords will not be able to evict tenants who were in good standing prior to April for the three-month period and will not be able to disconnect the electricity or water of tenants who were in good standing prior to April.

“…There should be no evictions between now and the end of June unless the tenant had been legally eligible for eviction before April.”

At the end of the three-month period, people will have 12 months to pay back the deferred amount.

“I want to be clear, this is not permission for individuals not to pay their rent,” Dr Minnis said. “I advise those who are still able to pay their full rent to do so. It is important to recognise also that landlords depend on rental payments for their own income and often to pay off their bank mortgages on their rental properties and this is why those rental payments can be deferred but they cannot be eliminated. I am pleased to advise that the commercial banks have indicated they are open to deferring the mortgage payments on rental properties to the extent that landlords are affected by this programme.”

Dr Minnis said to qualify for the programme, renters must have a monthly rental payment of $2,000 or less, be no more than one month in arrears with rent, be a Bahamian citizen or legal resident and able to demonstrate that their employment or income stream has been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.

They will have to sign an agreement to repay the amount deferred.

Landlords, Dr Minnis said, may agree with the renter to provide a bigger deferment amount and qualifying renters can decide they want a smaller deferment or no deferment at all.

“I am asking landlords and renters to approach this with understanding and with patience,” the prime minister said. “Many renters are on unemployment assistance and will not have the means to pay full rent. Many landlords have mortgage obligations to meet with the banks for these rental properties. They and other landlords also depend on the rental income to take care of themselves and their families.”

Dr Minnis also announced the National Food Committee will create a digital distribution plan to ensure Bahamians in need have sustenance while coordinating with various food sector agencies and groups to distribute the items.

“Once those individuals are within the digital system we can keep abreast and ensure that those individuals are adequately supplied and supported with their food needs,” he said of people in need. “This will also reduce the possibility or chance of double or triple dipping with individuals moving from one distribution centre to another because it’s all a national distribution network.”

Dr Minnis noted that people vulnerable to food insecurity now include “the newly unemployed, self-employed people whose businesses have been adversely affected, senior citizens unable to leave their homes because of the virus, school children who do not have sufficient food and some patients and those who provide them with care at home.”

He said he has appointed Susan Holowesko Larson as coordinator of the committee.