Camden’s $5M Resident Relief Fund Empties In 16 Minutes

A $5M relief fund created by Camden Property Trust to provide financial relief to tenants emptied within 16 minutes of opening for applications.

The Camden Cares Resident Relief Fund opened at 10 a.m. CT Monday. 

Only 16 minutes later, the company had received about 2,520 applications from tenants, effectively wiping out the available funds. At that stage, the online portal closed to any further applications, the Houston Chronicle reported.

The $5M fund was created as a way to help tenants receive financial assistance quickly, recognizing that one-off payments to individuals under the recently passed CARES Act could take weeks or even months to receive.

Eligible Camden residents were able to apply for a one-time, non-repayable grant of up to $2K. The money can be used for any purpose, not just to pay rent.

Camden Chairman and CEO Ric Campo told Bisnow that the processing of the 2,520 applications should be completed by noon on Tuesday.

“We had a team of 10 Camden people trained on the application process. They worked 18 hours yesterday. We should be done today by noon today,” Campo said.

Campo said Camden is considering increasing the size of the fund, but that the company wants to see how things play out over the next couple of weeks.

Camden runs 164 multifamily properties with 56,107 units across eight states. Prior to announcing the fund last week, the company had already waived late fees for rent, implemented a moratorium on evictions and sent out renewal notices with no rent increases.