Camden Property Trust payments Financial assistance of $2,000 per apartment was allocated within 20 minutes (credit: Katie Harp).

SAN FRANCISCO—Camden Property Trust established a $5 million Resident Relief Fund for Camden residents experiencing financial losses caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. The fund was intended to help affected residents by providing financial assistance for living expenses such as food, utilities, medical expenses, insurance, childcare or transportation.

“While the full impact of COVID-19 on our country is still unknown, we want to assist residents experiencing hardship as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and social distancing mandates,” said Richard J. Campo, Camden’s chairman and chief executive officer.

Grants were offered to Camden residents in good standing and not currently on notice to vacate. Residents were required to complete an application and provide reasonable proof of loss of job/income. Financial assistance was provided up to a maximum of $2,000 per apartment.

Online applications for Camden’s Resident Relief Fund opened at 10:00 a.m. CST on April 6 and within 20 minutes, Camden had received more than 2,500 applications for assistance checks, which allocated the fund, GlobeSt.com learns.

“With so much of the country facing financial hardship from COVID-19, we wanted to do something to assist our own residents and show that Camden cares,” Campo tells GlobeSt.com. “But we were still a little taken aback by the volume of requests and the fact we received them so quickly. I also want to thank our Camden team for working so hard to expedite processing of all of the applications and get checks in the mail so quickly to alleviate at least some of the hardship being felt by our residents.”

The first checks were cut the very next day, April 7, and Campo says the balance of the $5 million fund should be in the hands of the applicants in need by this time.