Creative ideas for working with tenants who can’t pay rent?

[Account Closed]

Aloha from Hawai’i Island!

We manage over 100 privately owned work force housing units here in Big Island of Hawaii.

At this time quite a few our tenants are on some kind of unemployment due to the shut downs and lack of tourism here in the islands (which hopefully will bounce back soon). For the most part we’re doing ok with with rent collection and are not strictly enforcing late payments as long as the tenants are communicating with us their unique situation and also what their plan is to obtain this months rent before next is due. We have also been diligent in sending printouts to tenants with info on rental assistance and different types of funding which are available for those who qualify. I believe this has helped us tremendously.

So far we’ve been blessed and have not seen much of a decline in our revenue, partly I believe because we have been diligent in working with each tenant on an individual basis.

My question is: what are some strategies and/or creative solutions landlords and PM companies are putting into place for tenants who are starting to fall behind in rent but are protected by moratoriums? Here in Hawaii our moratoriums end this month 10/31 but they’re still able to apply for the CDC and stay if they qualify.

Which leads to my next question. If Covid does not go away and this next stimulus is not as effective as we need it to be, what is some insight on a POTENTIAL larger scale eviction? Obviously I’m going to be heart broken if we have to put people out on the street, but we just can’t run a housing complex with no revenue, and if you let one person slide.. when does that train end?

I’d love to hear what others are planning or maybe some creative solutions others are putting into place to help tenants keep their housing or wisdom in the event of a tragedy such as evicting tenants who can’t pay due to the effects of the COVID lockdowns.

Grateful for any wisdom or insight anyone may have.

Mahalo and Aloha,

Tony