Maxwell Frost, the first-ever Generation Z member of Congress, claims he was denied an apartment in DC because he had low credit, despite being promised his credit score wouldn’t matter.
“Just applied to an apartment in DC where I told the guy that my credit was really bad. He said I’d be fine. Got denied, lost the apartment, and the application fee,” the Democrat from Florida tweeted Thursday. “This ain’t meant for people who don’t already have money.”
He assumed that as a new member of Congress, he would not have to deal with the same challenges.
“Unfortunately, we have this holy number of a credit score that affects whether or not a human being can move into a place or not, even with a letter from the United States Congress,” he said.
He said other members of Congress have pointed him towards different resources, and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez offered him advice.
The property market for potential buyers in Washington, as in many other locations around the country, has been progressively cooling since the summer.
“The slowdown for the Washington, D.C.-area housing market in October was dramatic. We saw a year-over-year decline in sales activity that was a bigger drop than we saw back when the pandemic hit. Back then, we saw sales grind to a halt, but the decline in October was even more dramatic than that,” listing service Bright MLS Chief Economist Lisa Sturtevant said.
Frost got sympathy from Twitter users who have also struggled with the DC rental market. One user said that finding a quality place to live is the “very worst” and a “hunger games-style battle.”
“We need more housing, and we need more housing near opportunity, and we need more affordable housing near opportunity,” Frost said.
A credit score may make or break a person’s ability to purchase or obtain an economic need, such as housing or a car. Credit ratings are supposed to be an impartial system based on whether or not someone pays their bills and utilizes credit continuously. Still, research reveals that structural injustices can effect that scoring.
Kevin L. Matthews II has noted, there is a “credit gap” between Black and white borrowers, exacerbating the racial wealth divide. According to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, 15% of Black and Hispanic Americans are more likely to have “credit invisible,” or to have credit histories that are not evaluated, preventing them from renting or purchasing a property.
This may widen the homeownership divide between Americans of color and white Americans. The disparity between black and white homeowners is at its greatest point ever, while Latinos continue to trail behind white homeowners.
At the same time, Americans who have previously leased may not notice an improvement in their credit scores: renting is not generally considered part of someone’s credit history unless they are late on payments, but some institutions are working to change that.
Frost described his predicament as an “unfortunate tiny picture” of a larger problem throughout the country, which he aims to address right now — along with exorbitant application costs for tenants.
“A couple months ago, my main concern was being able to afford a place,” he said. “Now I just found a place that I can afford, and now they won’t even let me give them money to live there, because of my credit score. There’s definitely a lot of work that needs to be done there.”