It isn’t easy to find a place to live. And it’s harder when there are barriers that might cause property managers or landlords to reject your application.

This article talks about some barriers and how to overcome them:

• Not enough income (money)
• Credit problems
• Legal problems in the past
• Rental problems in the past

Identify Your Barriers

This article will help you most if you know why your housing application might be rejected. Here is some information that can help:

• Your tenant screening report is used by landlords and property managers to help them figure out if you would be a good tenant. If you are denied housing, a landlord must tell you what agency they used for their screening report. You can then contact the agency to get a free copy of your report. You can also get a free copy if you get public benefits, are looking for work, or in certain other situations. Otherwise, you may have to pay for a report. Lawhelpmn.org has more details about the agencies that offer this report, how to get it, and how to use it.
• Your credit report tells people how likely you are to pay for things on time. It includes a credit score that summarizes this information in one number. Get a free copy of your credit report at annualcreditreport.com.
• If you have had problems with the law in the past, you can get a copy of your public criminal history from the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension. You can also visit the Minnesota Courts website to find some public records and to get help with many topics, like criminal expungement and tenant rights. With this information, you can know what sorts of problems are causing property managers to deny you housing. The rest of this article goes into detail about solving these problems.
• Laws like the Fair Housing Act and Minnesota Human Rights Act mean that you cannot be discriminated against when you apply for housing. Learn more about them later in this article.

For your housing application, make sure:

My Vault

:

Activity

Build a Housing Team

Follow this Vault path to learn about your right to choose the place you want to live.

Go To Activity

• You have the right phone numbers, emails, and addresses for yourself and anyone helping you. Tip: You can use HB101’s Build a Housing Team activity to organize this information.
• You know the county where you live. This affects benefits and services that can help you.
• You have legal ID like a Minnesota State ID or Driver’s License. You should also have your Social Security Card and if you are not a U.S. citizen, your Green Card (officially known as a Permanent Resident Card). Keep these in a safe place.
• You know what benefits you get. You can use the Vault’s Benefits Lookup activity to ask the state of Minnesota about your benefits. You can also make a my Social Security account to learn about your SSA benefits and contact the VA about Veterans’ benefits. Disability Benefits 101 has more information about finding out what benefits you get.
  • If you need help with the Benefits Lookup, Chat with a Hub expert.