Housing CEO creates $5M fund to help residents with no income during COVID-19 crisis

The Camden Living CEO unveiled a bold plan Monday for his 159 communities across the United States, several of them in the Valley like Camden Copper Square near downtown Phoenix.

PHOENIX - The Camden Living CEO unveiled a bold plan Monday for his 159 communities across the United States, several of them in the Valley like Camden Copper Square near downtown Phoenix.

This is all to help alleviate economic pressure during the COVID-19 crisis.

“We’re definitely leading the pack on taking care of our customers this way,” says CEO Ric Campo.

You can hear the sincerity in Ric Campo's voice when he says the he knows the world is at a standstill right now.

“If you can’t pay your rent in April and May, you know, we’ll work with you. I mean we’re not going to throw you out of your apartment because you can’t pay your rent right now because the economy is shut down. So we need to take care of our residents, we’re not gonna charge you late fees, it’s not gonna affect your credit rating. We’re going to take care of you because it’s the right thing to do,” he said.

The Camden Resident Relief Fund will allow renters to apply for tax free grants of up to $2,000. But access to the $5 million pot is on a first come, first serve basis and there’s only one application allowed per unit.

“Business needs to think this way. It’s not just good philanthropy or the right thing to do, it’s just good business. Our customers appreciate it,” he said.

Campo says customer service is key in times of crisis and they know where there customers are, stuck at home.

“If you’re a gig economy person when you’re not working or you get laid off and you don’t get a check you know. It’s a critical piece of equation for you. That’s why we wanted to go big and we wanted to do it fast. We wanted to make it simple and we wanted to be able to help as many customers as we could," Campo said.