The first member of Generation Z elected to Congress has been denied an apartment in Washington, D.C.
Floridian Congressman-elect Maxwell Alejandro Frost, 25, tweeted about his application rejection after he claimed he was told he would clear the process despite his “really bad” credit score.
Instead, the Democrat was denied and lost his application fee. “This ain’t meant for people who don’t already have money,” Frost tweeted.
Kevin Lata, Frost’s campaign manager, said the rejection served as an “indictment of how bad the housing crisis is in our country when a member of Congress can’t get approved for an apartment.”
Frost was elected last month to represent a central Florida district that includes Orlando. The gun control activist drove Uber rides to support himself during his congressional run.
He said that he ran up significant debt during the campaign, and that the Uber trips did not fully cover his living costs.
Frost said his experience echoed the 2018 campaign journey of Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the New York progressive who became the youngest woman elected to Congress. She worked at a taqueria near Manhattan’s Union Square during her run.
Americans must be at least 25 years old to serve in the House, according to the chamber’s historian, though William Charles Cole Claiborne, a Tennessean, was about 22 when he was seated in 1797.
The annual salary for a member of the House is $174,000. Frost said on Twitter that he was speaking from a “point of privilege” because his new salary will boost his credit score.
“We have to do better for the whole country,” he tweeted on Thursday.
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