First Gen Z congressman-elect says he was denied DC apartment over bad credit

By Sonnet Swire, CNN

The congressman-elect 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.

“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.

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.

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.”

CNN has reached out to Frost’s office for comment.

In comments to The Washington Post, Frost declined to identify the building, the size of his debt or credit score, but said the building where his application was rejected was in the city’s Navy Yard neighborhood, roughly a mile from the US Capitol. He said he lost the $50 application fee.

Frost is not the only incoming member of Congress to have struggled to find housing in DC.

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.

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CNN’s Shawna Mizelle contributed to this report.