Maxwell Frost, the newly elected representative for Florida’s 10th Congressional District, said he was denied an apartment in Washington, D.C. due to bad credit.
Axios reports that Frost said his bad credit is the result of him taking on debt while spending a year and a half running for Congress and that he was even forced to drive for Uber.
“Just applied to an apartment in D.C. 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,” Frost tweeted Thursday. “This ain’t meant for people who don’t already have money.”Kevin Lata, who managed Frost’s campaign, told Axios Frost told the building’s management he was an incoming representative and the House sent a verification letter to the building’s management. Lata did not name the building, but said it was located in the Navy Yard section of D.C., an upscale neighborhood along the Anacostia River.
According to Zumper, as of December 3, the average rent for a 1-bedroom apartment in the Navy Yard section of Washington, D.C. is $2,800, a 13% increase from 2021. Frost’s annual salary as a member of Congress is $174,000, meaning he would be spending more than 15% of his salary on rent, something the majority of U.S. renters know too well.
PBR reports 49% of U.S. renters spent at least 30% of their household income on housing costs in 2020.
Other politicians experienced similar situations when moving to D.C. after being elected. In 2018, New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez also couldn’t afford an apartment in D.C. The politician also opposed and defeated Amazon’s second headquarters which was slated for Queens, NY.
While former New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said the headquarters would add 25,000 jobs to the area, the Queen’s rep. questioned the validity of that figure and cited a report showing the tech giant pays $0 in federal taxes
“$0 for schools. $0 for firefighters. $0 for infrastructure. $0 for research and healthcare,” she tweeted at the time. “Why should corporations that contribute nothing to the pot be in a position to take billions from the public?