A bunch of landlords are sending proposals that retail tenants pay half rent for April, May, June, and the missing portion over the rest of this year once re-opened. That seems to be the consensus "deal."

This doesn't solve the fundamental issue for retail tenants.

Right now, non-essential retail closures are indefinite. The reason tenants stopped paying rent is because they need to preserve cash on hand to keep the lights on at corp, to move full speed when re-opening is possible.

Paying half rent means that the landlords are exactly 2x as optimistic as tenants are about re-opening dates, whatever those are. But 2x on an "indefinite" timescale doesn't actually mean anything.

Then, asking retailers to pay all of it back in the balance of this year, which will of course be an incredibly slow ramp up in terms of shopping, means that in the time when tenants need to be supremely cost efficient, they will have even more cost than normal.

It just doesn't work. Again, I empathize with the situation that landlords are facing too. It's really harrowing. However, I'd really like to see them think a bit more deeply about what all of us are going to need to get through the next couple years.