Needing financial support to retire
Q: I'm past retirement age, but if I retired I wouldn't be able to afford my rent, let alone food or clothes. Is there any financial help available for people my age?

Carol, Dallas TX

A: The standard of living of older Americans is going to be an increasing problem, as the massive number of Baby Boomers enter late middle age and old age, and as lifespans continue to increase. Societally, America has turned a collective blind eye to the problem.

Why? Two reasons. First, prices for dwellings are set by market conditions. Someone who is 70, and who earns a moderate or fixed income, competes with a wage earner of 40 (whose income potential continues to grow) for vacant apartments. Guess which one has greater affluence? Second, society has not yet committed to setting aside resources to subsidize the cost of housing, feeding and providing proper medical care for the elderly. European nations, Canada, New Zealand, and many more do this realizing that the natural cycle of life includes periods of dependency at the beginning, and at the end. In America, we provide token assistance, Social Security and various forms of disability and medical payments (Medicare, Medi-Cal in California, Social Security Disability for the disabled), but we do not provide, as a matter of right, proper comprehensive care for seniors.

So, where does that leave you, with an income that is increasingly stretched by inflationary pressures? Well, you have some options, but not as many as I believe you should have. First, investigate the full range of State and Federal benefits available to you. Set up an appointment with Social Security to discuss your benefits. The longer you wait to receive benefits (up to a point), the more you'll receive. Also, are you getting all the medical financial assistance you can get through the government? Both State and Local agencies may be able to help you determine this. Also, local lawyers (either private ones or ones working through legal aid) may be able to help you evaluate this. Second, check out housing in your area. Some housing complexes may have units that provide subsidized rates for the elderly. Again, the local government may help you determine this. Does the local municipality have an elderly outreach program? If so, someone may be able to help you find an appropriate place to live for your age and income.

Aside from these suggestions, I can only offer you my sympathy that we live in a society that has collectively decided to ignore its inherent responsibility to care for its elderly.

Signing a lease as an immigrant
Q: I am planning on getting an apartment with my boyfriend who is an immigrant and does not have a social security number. Can he still be put on the lease?

Tob

A: The short answer is "yes," he can be put on the lease, because "no," he does not need to have a social security number to rent an apartment. A lease is a contract, and the basic law relating to contracts is that one only has to have the capacity to make a contract to enter into the contract. Without going into extreme detail, the basic requirements are low. And one of them isn't having a social security number. Now, as a policy, the property manager might ask for this information - especially, if the property manager wanted to do a credit check on your boyfriend...but then again, if your boyfriend was from another country, he may not have another credit that could be checked by an American credit check company. But that's another problem entirely!

Actions to take on bad credit
Q: I am trying to rent an apartment in Manteca, CA, but am running into problems due to bad credit. I can't find a place and feel that I am going to be homeless because of this. What can I do? Is there any law against this? Please let me know.

Jill

A: I get this question so much, I'm beginning to wonder if anyone has good credit. So take comfort in the fact that you are not alone.

The following answer is designed to help you increase the probability of getting a landlord to rent to you. No law prohibits discrimination against bad credit; sadly, it is perfectly legal.

Keep in mind the reason for this legal discrimination: Bad credit is a red flag to a prospective property owner or manager. It tells them that you may be unreliable in fulfilling your obligation to make payment on your new place. You'll want to counter this expectation as aggressively as possible.

So what can you do to decrease the odds of rejection?

First, try to clean up your credit as soon as possible. Nolo Press (www.nolopress.com) has an excellent book that I highly recommend called "Credit Repair: Quick & Legal" by Robin Leonard.

They also have a list of "frequently asked questions" that may serve you well, http://www.nolopress.com/encyclopedia/articles/dc/dc21.html

I also recommend the Credit Info Center. See their excellent site at http://www.creditinfocenter.com/

These resources are designed to help you learn about credit reporting so you can clean up your credit. My recommendation is that you should start rebuilding your credit (and attempting to remove erroneous bad information) yesterday.

Second, be up front about it with landlords. If they ask you and you fail to mention it, they could evict you (or worse) if the information is discovered.

Third, there are other ways to help your cause, and you may not like some of them. Offer to pay several months rent in advance. Offer to pay a larger security deposit (this may not be legal in all states, like California, which caps the amount of the deposit at twice the rent, so check with the local tenant's union or board before doing this.) These devices give the property owner or manager security and ease his or her concerns that you'll be fiscally irresponsible.

Fourth, get a letter from your new employer showing employment status/income. This will go a long way in helping you establish your ability to pay rent (which is essentially what a good credit report does - by showing your prior record.)

Also, get a letter of reference from your prior property owner or manager showing that you paid the rent, were a model tenant, and so forth. This will help.

In essence, a good credit report is merely one tool used to evaluate you by your prospective property owner or manager. In that tool isn't in your favor, then get as many other tools as you can to help you.

One "common sense" tool is to try to impress the property manager. Dress professionally when you visit him or her. Show up on time. Be polite, professional and considerate. And you're going to have to learn how to be persistent. And that you have to be polite, professional and considerate no matter how many times you've heard "no." You're looking for one "yes" so the number of "no's" will be irrelevant once you find a place.

Cast your net broadly. Limiting criteria, such as where you really WANT to live, will have to be mitigated by the fact that you're going to have to look at more places than the typical apartment searcher. Searching the RENTNET® site is a good start. And give yourself plenty of time - you'll need extra time, because you may hear "no" frequently. Be polite but persistent. Treat it like a job search.

Also, time your search well. Residents generally give notice to landlords the last week of the month. Really hit your search hard then. That will help to increase the available pool of vacancies.

The last piece of advice I have would be to look at a house sharing situation, where you would not be on the lease. In many sharing or roommate situations, the master tenant would be on the lease, and you would pay rent to them. In many of those situations, you could avoid having to produce a credit report altogether. The RENTNET® site offers free roommate postings, and has select partners that provide this service as well.