A senior economist with the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives says he expects there to be some conflicts on April 1 because some people won’t be able to pay their rent or mortgages.

Speaking on the NL Morning News, Marc Lee says the challenge for the provincial and federal government is to ensure that people who need the money get it quickly.

“What we were calling for as an organization was some leniency in that so that if you have actually lost work, we would defer or even cancel rent for that particular month,” he said. “They are saying sort of work it out between a bank and someone holding a mortgage or whether its an owner and a landlord. That will work in some situations for sure.”

The BC government has announced a $500 a month rental support, and a one time $1,000 payment. It is in addition to $2,000 a month from the federal government.

“I’m concerned that April 1 is going to come and we are going to see some conflict that you know, rent is not going to get paid and I think from a renter perspective, you are in that situation, then you can’t get evicted,” Lee added.

“The money will start flowing into April, so we need to ride out the next couple of weeks, and the indication from the government is to work together.”