LONDON, ONT. -- Canadians across the country no longer earning an income, or working with reduced income, are having a hard time coming up with their rent.

Friday marks the second rent day since the economy was partially shut down due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The good news for them is that they cannot be evicted, at least for the time being. This follows a provincial directive in March that put a freeze on all eviction notices, and those that were already in place.

But even if you can’t pay your rent, you should still try to work out an arrangement with your landlord, advises lawyer Kristie Pagniello, the acting executive director for Neighbourhood Legal Services in London.

“Explain the circumstances, and maybe even work out some sort of payment plan so that there’s some demonstration of effort on the part of the tenant. And then, down the road when things open up again, the arrears would be less and more manageable. There would still be an option at that point to pay the monies and maintain your housing.”

Acorn Canada, an independent national community organization conducted a survey of more than 1,800 renters on April 20. It reports that almost 50 per cent of people said they’re worried about paying rent on the first of May.

Thirty-five per cent of people said they don’t have enough money to pay May rent.

And 15 per cent said they have already received notice of eviction, or have been threatened with eviction by their landlord.

On the flip side, landlords may also be facing a financial crunch themselves, said Lisa Smith, a past president of the London Property Management Association.

“Landlords do have overhead. They have to maintain the property, and they’re going to take a hit as well if multiple tenants don’t pay their rent. They have a mortgage. You know, hopefully they can contact their mortgage provider to defer mortgage payments to maybe help them out in that case. But unfortunately there’s nothing else that can be done.“

In the meantime, hundreds of thousands across Canada have signed petitions, asking the federal government for the outright cancellation of rents and mortgage payments for the duration of the crisis.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has said that won’t happen. Instead, banks have been asked to give people a break if they need it.