1st Gen Z Congressman-Elect Has DC Apartment Application Rejected Over ‘Bad’ Credit

Rep.-Elect Maxwell Frost (D-Fla.) speaks with reporters during a break in an orientation meeting in the U.S. Capitol Building in Washington on Nov. 14, 2022. Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images

Maxwell Alejandro Frost, who is to become the first member of Generation Z in the United States House of Representatives, said on Dec. 8 that his “really bad” credit score got his application to an apartment in Washington denied.

“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,” Frost wrote on Thursday morning.

Frost, a 25-year-old community organizer from Orlando, is heading to the nation’s capital as the youngest man in Congress. But he is struggling to get housing in Washington.

“Got denied, lost the apartment, and the application fee,” he said, adding that “this ain’t meant for people who don’t already have money.”

Frost later explained that when he was running for Congress he “ran up a lot of debt.”

“For those asking, I have bad credit cause I ran up a lot of debt running for Congress for a year and a half,” he said.

“Didn’t make enough money from Uber itself to pay for my living.”

Credit Score and Rent

Frost said he sought to use a letter from the House to show the salary he is starting to collect from January, which is $174,000 per year as a House member, but it didn’t work.

“In this country we allow numbers like credit scores to completely define a human,” he told Bloomberg. “It just shows how much of a problem we have.”

While the Florida native didn’t disclose the size of his debt, he said the apartment was within his budget.

The apartment he applied for was in the Navy Yard neighborhood, he told The Washington Post. The area is located only over a mile away from the U.S. Capital.

By Dec. 4, the average rent for a one-bedroom apartment in Navy Yard, Washington, is $2,800, according to Zillow. The website noted the price marked a 13 percent year-on-year increase.

Across Washington, the median rent for a one-bedroom apartment stands at $2,200, according to Zillow. But the median line varies among websites. The median price for a one-bedroom apartment is $1,786, according to a December report by Apartment List, an online rental marketplace.

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) speaks on banning stock trades for members of Congress at a news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington, on April 7, 2022. Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) also encountered the same problem after the former bartender won the election in 2018, Frost said.

Ocasio-Cortez, who was 29 years old at that time, said she was left with no income during the transition period.

“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,” she said in a 2018 interview with New York Times.

First Gen Z

To campaign full time, Frost said he quit his job as a Uber driver.

“For that primary, I quit my full time job cause I knew that to win at 25 [years] 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,” he said on Twitter.

Maxwell Frost participates in the Pride Parade in Orlando, Fla., on Oct. 15, 2022. Giorgio Viera / AFP via Getty Images

Frost is a former March For Our Lives organizer seeking stricter gun control laws and has campaigned for his opposition to the overturn of the Roe v. Wade abortion decision, increasing housing access, among other policies.

Last month, the young activist won the election to replace Rep. Val Demings in a heavily blue Orlando-area district, who ran as the Democrat candidate for senator against incumbent Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.).

He is about to be the first member of Generation Z to serve the legislative body, where the average age of the current member is 58 years old. Generation Z generally refers to those born between the late 1990s to early 2010s. To become a member of Congress, candidates must be at least 25 years old.

The incoming Congressman celebrated on Twitter.

“WE WON!!!! History was made tonight. We made history for Floridians, for Gen Z, and for everyone who believes we deserve a better future. I am beyond thankful for the opportunity to represent my home in the United States Congress,”  Frost wrote on Nov. 9.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.