I have barely told anyone this, but here goes...
Here in Seattle, we are "COVID-19 Ground Zero" in the US. Due to social distancing--and later by the governor having been shut down as non-essential--my dance studio has been out of regular business for weeks now with no end in sight. But, we still have to pay rent and all utilities as expected. We fall through every crack imaginable for assistance--I don't employ anyone, so grants for small businesses employing X# of employees aren't available to me. Chris makes too much money for us to qualify for any artists/small business program assistance programs I have come across. The stock market is in the ditch, and with our other house project under way (and also completely frozen due to work stoppages), we have debt tied up in it, and don't have enough liquidity to prop up the business for any length of time and still pay our current living expenses (talk about the worst timing ever). Unemployment doesn't apply to me. Some of my renters are trying to pay in a little bit to help so the roof stays over their head to return to, but they are mostly out of work as well, so it doesn't even cover a tiny portion of the total lease/costs on the space. Looking at arts grants, and there is hot competition for very small amounts of funds; and since they given in small doses to spread as far as they can, most of them wouldn't even cover a portion of one month of our rent. I would have to win out on multiple grants every month to cover our losses. Impossible.
Our mayor did put into place a 30 day moratorium on both residential AND commercial evictions, but we haven't heard if it will be extended. Even if it were, it isn't debt forgiveness, so it means when this is all over we would need to come up with all the back-rent. My credit union is giving a small interest free loan to every member who applies, but it would cover a little less than a month of rent (not expenses), and then I am under that debt, too, with just more months ahead of me without a plan.
Hard fact for me: my lease term is up this July. I only just got started--my studio has been over a decade in the planning, but only 3 years in the fruition of it. It was going beautifully, and I was going to re-up for another 3 years, but now I have to wonder if my dream is about to die ignominiously in this pandemic.
I am mentally composing the mail to my landlord to see what options he may have for me, if any. He owns many properties and is a good landlord. I am sure he has a lot of renters in the same boat, and is fielding a lot of similar messages right now. I don't know what his financial position is and how much wiggle room he has. For instance, I know for a fact a chunk of his portfolio is closed restaurants, and the business I share the building with is a nail salon which has been closed for weeks, with a minimum of another month of closure ahead (and we all know more than that). ALL of us won't be able to pay our rents--where does that put us; where does that put him? He certainly won't want us all moving out en-masse and have to look for new renters, but the financial and legal conundrum it puts him in is no small potatoes, either. I am empathy for the position he is in, as well.
Here in Seattle, we are "COVID-19 Ground Zero" in the US. Due to social distancing--and later by the governor having been shut down as non-essential--my dance studio has been out of regular business for weeks now with no end in sight. But, we still have to pay rent and all utilities as expected. We fall through every crack imaginable for assistance--I don't employ anyone, so grants for small businesses employing X# of employees aren't available to me. Chris makes too much money for us to qualify for any artists/small business program assistance programs I have come across. The stock market is in the ditch, and with our other house project under way (and also completely frozen due to work stoppages), we have debt tied up in it, and don't have enough liquidity to prop up the business for any length of time and still pay our current living expenses (talk about the worst timing ever). Unemployment doesn't apply to me. Some of my renters are trying to pay in a little bit to help so the roof stays over their head to return to, but they are mostly out of work as well, so it doesn't even cover a tiny portion of the total lease/costs on the space. Looking at arts grants, and there is hot competition for very small amounts of funds; and since they given in small doses to spread as far as they can, most of them wouldn't even cover a portion of one month of our rent. I would have to win out on multiple grants every month to cover our losses. Impossible.
Our mayor did put into place a 30 day moratorium on both residential AND commercial evictions, but we haven't heard if it will be extended. Even if it were, it isn't debt forgiveness, so it means when this is all over we would need to come up with all the back-rent. My credit union is giving a small interest free loan to every member who applies, but it would cover a little less than a month of rent (not expenses), and then I am under that debt, too, with just more months ahead of me without a plan.
Hard fact for me: my lease term is up this July. I only just got started--my studio has been over a decade in the planning, but only 3 years in the fruition of it. It was going beautifully, and I was going to re-up for another 3 years, but now I have to wonder if my dream is about to die ignominiously in this pandemic.
I am mentally composing the mail to my landlord to see what options he may have for me, if any. He owns many properties and is a good landlord. I am sure he has a lot of renters in the same boat, and is fielding a lot of similar messages right now. I don't know what his financial position is and how much wiggle room he has. For instance, I know for a fact a chunk of his portfolio is closed restaurants, and the business I share the building with is a nail salon which has been closed for weeks, with a minimum of another month of closure ahead (and we all know more than that). ALL of us won't be able to pay our rents--where does that put us; where does that put him? He certainly won't want us all moving out en-masse and have to look for new renters, but the financial and legal conundrum it puts him in is no small potatoes, either. I am empathy for the position he is in, as well.
This all just sucks so much.
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