“I was living in a homeless shelter in Tacoma & was trying to find a rental apartment. I had budgeted enough money for the average studio apartment in Tacoma, including first & last rent, a deposit, & at least three tenant screening reports, at roughly $35 each. My transition from shelter to home took three more months than I expected.
I had to keep paying for repeat tenant screening reports that various landlords requested during my search. After I ran out of money paying for the reports, I had to stop my search until the next paycheck. If I could’ve purchased just one standard report that all landlords had to accept, then I could have applied to more places & moved into my new apartment much sooner.
And had I been able to leave the shelter sooner, I could’ve saved Tacoma money & opened up space for someone whose situation was worse than mine.”