Newsman: The congressman-elect Maxwell Frost set to become the first member of Generation Z to serve in Congress said Thursday, his rental application for an apartment in Washington, DC, was denied because of his “really bad” credit. He went to view the apartment and spent about an hour filling out the application and providing information for a credit check. He also submitted a $50 application fee. Frost said “It’s unfortunate. It’s a known issue, especially amongst the more working-class members,” he said. “It’s definitely a problem.”
“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. This ain’t meant for people who don’t already have money,” Maxwell Frost said in a tweet.
Landlords often use credit checks to approve a tenant’s rental application. But research has shown that credit scores actually perpetuate racial disparities. Sometimes the information provided in a credit check is even wrong, unfairly costing people an opportunity at housing, according to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
In a Twitter thread, the congressman-elect expressed frustrations with relocating to the capital, saying that he has bad credit because he “ran up a lot of debt running for Congress for a year and a half” and that he did not make enough money working for Uber to pay for the cost of living.
Frost said that he quit his full time job during his race’s primary, because “I knew that to win at 25 yrs old, I’d need to be a full time candidate. 7 days a week, 10-12 hours a day. It’s not sustainable or right but it’s what we had to do.”
“As a candidate, you can’t give yourself a stipend or anything till the very end of your campaign,” he added. “So most of the run, you have no $ coming in unless you work a second job.”
On Twitter, he referenced New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who, in 2018 became the youngest woman elected to Congress at age 29 – and who also had a hard time as an incoming lawmaker finding affordable housing in Washington on her then-salary.
Frost pointed out that once his congressional salary kicks in, he’ll be fine, adding that “we have to do better” for others.
“I also recognize that I’m speaking from a point of privilege cause in 2 years time, my credit will be okay because of my new salary that starts next year,” Frost said. “We have to do better for the whole country.”
Members of the House and Senate earn $174,000 a year, according to the Congressional Research Service, but that salary will not begin until Frost is sworn in on January 3.
Frost, an Orlando-based community organizer, made history last month when he won election in Florida’s 10th Congressional District at just 25 years old. Frost surprised party leaders with his victory in a crowded primary filled with senior political figures to replace outgoing Rep. Val Demings, before comfortably winning against his Republican opponent in a solidly blue district.
Congressman-elect was excited. He thought that for the first few months of living in DC, he’d be couch surfing to save money. But as luck would have it, he found an apartment in Washington, D.C.’s Navy Yard neighborhood with monthly rent he figured he could swing.
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez talked about her own trouble with affording housing when she was elected in 2018. She told The New York Times that year, “I have three months without a salary before I’m a member of Congress. So, how do I get an apartment? Those little things are very real.”
Dozens of members of Congress have even turned their Capitol Hill offices into their makeshift apartments. This practice has been criticized as an inappropriate use of taxpayer money — and potentially uncomfortable for staffers who may catch their bosses in pajamas.
