4570 replies to this topic

[Redd42]

donotreply-trs@bchousing.org

[Redd42]

Both the tenant and the landlord get a message from BC Housing if the tenant is eligible.

 

These are the subject lines of the e-mails:

 

BC-TRS Landlord - Tenant Eligible, Need Landlord Application A16-#####

 

BC-TRS Tenant - Application Eligible, Need Landlord Application A16-#####

[SamCB]

^thanks- very helpful.

[tanker]

Most of the tech industry in Victoria are startups. The majority of those businesses will fail in the next few months. They either don't qualify for the subsidies and/or they are not ale to raise money to keep going.

Yeah the VC taps are dry right now for sure but deals usually take 3-6 months to close and most startups aim for a few years of runway. Some will close, there's no doubt but a lot will be ok for now.

[Mike K.]

Had to help a friend out with something past Jordan River today and when I drove through the beach I saw more people than I’ve ever seen along there, as in barely any shoulder space along the road left to park. Looking out over the sea you could see a legion of surfers/people with wet suits aspiring to be surfers bobbing in the water.

Was today some kind of a special day for surfing, or were there big waves or something? Sure didn’t look it from what I saw. So weird.

And when did surfing/donning a wet suit and aspiring to be a surfer spike in popularity? Hardly a day goes by that I don’t see multiple Subaru’s or Japanoids passing by with surf boards attached to the roof rack.

[VIResident]

Will this be an issue for the region?  

 

From downtown to ghost town: How the pandemic is upending the economics of the urban core Haider-Moranis Bulletin: It's likely businesses are reviewing operating cost structures to determine whether the benefits of downtown locations justify the costs

 

"...........Commercial real estate clusters in urban cores represent tens of billions of dollars in investments. Being a tenant downtown in a high-rise and the assumed economic benefits of being centrally located come at exorbitant rents, which businesses have paid for decades. The underlying assumption has been that the physical location of a firm’s offices is instrumental to its success."

 

".......COVID-19 has changed that. Given the circumstances, it is likely that businesses are reviewing their operating cost structures to determine whether the productivity benefits of downtown locations justify the occupancy costs."

 

"......With a noticeable decline in public transit carrying capacities, downtown-based employment clusters, which are increasingly dependent on public transportation, would experience a drop in commuting. Consequently, offices and buildings will be underutilized. Workers will continue to work from home, making telework more acceptable for large knowledge economy firms."

https://business.fin...-the-urban-core

[Mike K.]

Exactly what we’ve been talking about.

[Vicwestguy]

Commercial rent relief from the government has completely missed the mark with many businesses. At the start of the pandemic , any restaurants with a " dine in " portion were mandated to close. The 75% wage subsidy was introduced, and the government encourage owners to hire back staff to help ease the burden on EI, etc. Some dine in locations that never had a takeout / delivery system got creative and did whatever they could to generate  some revenue, not knowing what/ if any commericial rent relief was coming. Now that the " relief" has been introduced , a total loss of 70% revenue is needed to be able to qualify for rent relief. To clarify, the government demands we close to help stop the spread, we get creative and generate whatever revenue we can by rehiring people we had already laid off, only to find out we are down 68% on revenue and now do not qualify for rent relief? Why the **** would we have hired anyone back or even opened the doors? The biggest kick in the nuts in the fact that the TC and every other media outlet headlines " 75% Rent Relief for Commercial leases" , leaving every person who does not read the fine print to believe that the Feds have solved yet another problem. Far from it!

 

I also do not think too many landlords will approve it. For an example, I have a friend who just recently opened a new restaurant. He completed and opened within the last 6 months and spent upwards of a million dollars on his new venture. His revenues are not down 70%, but very close. He does not qualify for rent relief and the LL is aware that he is struggling. They are also know he is not going to walk away from his 1 million dollar investment. With most landlords, they had him sign a personal guarantee. His home is on the line. If he defaults on the lease, they LL will eventually get his money, and will also get a completely renovated , brand new space to lease out to a new client. The landlord does not have much to lose. My wish is for the government to pay for 100% of the fixed costs for the business. If we are truly " all in this together", why does it not feel like that?

[Mike K.]

This is what happens when bureaucrats who’ve never operated a successful business start implementing business policy.

The rules make no sense, the directives are contradictory and the solutions limited. Unless you’ve operated a business and understand how they function you have no business dictating anything to business. But alas, here we are.

I agree that the roll out of these programs has been mismanaged and left many business owners confused, ineligible, or both. But rest assured, small business will be seen as a taxation cash cow for the Liberals once this is all over.

[spanky123]

Will this be an issue for the region?  

 

From downtown to ghost town: How the pandemic is upending the economics of the urban core Haider-Moranis Bulletin: It's likely businesses are reviewing operating cost structures to determine whether the benefits of downtown locations justify the costs

 

I don't see a mass migration away from offices to remote work. Almost every company that I have spoken to is finding a drop in productivity with people working from home, not to mention that isolation a lot of people are feeling sitting in their apartment all day. I think that a lot of owners and employees are looking to get back to their office.

[spanky123]

This is what happens when bureaucrats who’ve never operated a successful business start implementing business policy.

The rules make no sense, the directives are contradictory and the solutions limited. Unless you’ve operated a business and understand how they function you have no business dictating anything to business. But alas, here we are.

I agree that the roll out of these programs has been mismanaged and left many business owners confused, ineligible, or both. But rest assured, small business will be seen as a taxation cash cow for the Liberals once this is all over.

 

The wage subsidy was announced in a rush to avoid mass layoffs. The rent subsidy was announced in a rush to avoid large numbers of businesses just defaulting on their leases. With the CERB blowing way past its projections on cost, I don't think that the Feds have the resources let alone the intent of trying to save small business. Their solution is going to be to announce that the economy is being re-opened to try and get business up and running again.

[lanforod]

I don't see a mass migration away from offices to remote work. Almost every company that I have spoken to is finding a drop in productivity with people working from home, not to mention that isolation a lot of people are feeling sitting in their apartment all day. I think that a lot of owners and employees are looking to get back to their office.

 

Completely agree on the isolation part. The productivity depends. Some areas are being more productive, but part of that is related to increased focus, less fluff meetings etc. It'll lead to burnout, in my opinion.

[Mike K.]

Isolation during COVID is temporary. Once the office worker working from home can go out for lunch again, grab some beers with friends after the business day wraps up, go hang out at the gym, etc, working from home won’t be so bad or feel so isolating.

I think your average worker from home is going to recognize how much nicer it is not having to commute and will do whatever it takes to keep that arrangement going. Those that are not productive at home are likely to not be very productive at work to begin with, unless the nature of their work requires multiple people to carry out a duty (like marketing/branding where groupthink is sort of required to hash out ideas and put together plans, visuals, etc).

[Mike K.]

Completely agree on the isolation part. The productivity depends. Some areas are being more productive, but part of that is related to increased focus, less fluff meetings etc. It'll lead to burnout, in my opinion.

Don’t be so worried about burn-out. In the West we work ridiculously low hours compared to so many other parts of the world, especially in Victoria where productivity seems to be extremely low compared to what other NA markets expect of their workers. You just have to reset the confines/expectations of an office work environment, where your productivity is judged by explicit hours sitting in a chair. But are you 100% productive in that time?

[spanky123]

^ I think that coming out of this we are likely to have an unemployment rate north of 10% for a very long time. Employers will be setting the work conditions.

[SamCB]

I think your average worker from home is going to recognize how much nicer it is not having to commute and will do whatever it takes to keep that arrangement going. Those that are not productive at home are likely to not be very productive at work to begin with, unless the nature of their work requires multiple people to carry out a duty (like marketing/branding where groupthink is sort of required to hash out ideas and put together plans, visuals, etc).

 

This has been my experience. I've added nearly 2 hours of 'personal time' to my day by eliminating the commute. The benefits of not rushing out the door every morning are huge for my family-- my kids especially, while missing their school friends, have expressed their happiness at not having to deal with the morning rush anymore.

 

Productivity is the same for me at home vs. @ the office. My personal stress levels are greatly reduced working from home. I will never go back to 5 days/week commuting into the office. The very minimum I'd settle for is 2 days/week working from home. 

[Rob Randall]

Working from home is a blessing for many people.

 

But for others they did not envisage a career where they sit at home in their sweatpants all day. They want to get out of the house, socialize with others, wear real clothes. Heaven for some, hell for others.

[Jackerbie]

Isolation during COVID is temporary. Once the office worker working from home can go out for lunch again, grab some beers with friends after the business day wraps up, go hang out at the gym, etc, working from home won’t be so bad or feel so isolating.

I think your average worker from home is going to recognize how much nicer it is not having to commute and will do whatever it takes to keep that arrangement going. Those that are not productive at home are likely to not be very productive at work to begin with, unless the nature of their work requires multiple people to carry out a duty (like marketing/branding where groupthink is sort of required to hash out ideas and put together plans, visuals, etc).

 

Hardware and living space are the two huge factors in this, though. Working from home is no fun at all when you have two people sharing a one bedroom apartment, and even worse when said apartment doesn't have a table. A laptop on the kitchen counter or couch is a huge step down from my double monitor setup at the office.

 

Our employer gave us the ability to bring our workstations home, but I have nowhere to put it when it's not in use. I'll be much happier once I can be back in the office full time as opposed to one day a week. Most of the people in my department seem to have the same feelings.

[Victoria Watcher]

Some Georgia restaurants were reopening for limited dine-in service Monday as the state continued a loosening of coronavirus restrictions, but many chose to remain closed for the time being.

Permission for dine-in service and for movie theatres to reopen comes after other businesses, including barbershops, gyms, tattoo shops and nail salons, were allowed to start seeing customers Friday. While many gratefully opened their doors after a monthlong closure, others didn't feel ready yet and remained shuttered.


https://www.ctvnews....oosen-1.4913456

[Mike K.]

Hardware and living space are the two huge factors in this, though. Working from home is no fun at all when you have two people sharing a one bedroom apartment, and even worse when said apartment doesn't have a table. A laptop on the kitchen counter or couch is a huge step down from my double monitor setup at the office.

Our employer gave us the ability to bring our workstations home, but I have nowhere to put it when it's not in use. I'll be much happier once I can be back in the office full time as opposed to one day a week. Most of the people in my department seem to have the same feelings.

Oh yeah, this will give plenty of people a chance to reflect on their lifestyle choices, for sure.