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Scottsdale Apartment Applicants in a Bind

Roughly one in every three residents seeking an apartment in the Scottsdale area is being turned away, and the city of Phoenix is beginning to question its own housing plans.

Plans made available by the city detail nearly 10,000 apartments that are available or will be in the near future. According to a recent study, however, this will not be nearly enough to cover the housing needs of the growing metro area.

Not only are there too many people to fill the slots in the apartments that are opening up, a lot of landlords are continuously turning away tenants. According to a survey conducted by Yardi’s RENTcafe, roughly 1/3 of prospective tenants are being turned away, and not for the reasons you might think.


According to Yardi’s survey, the majority of people that are turned away are told it is not due to bad credit. In fact, the study directly states that only 10 percent of all those that are turned down for apartments are rejected due to low credit scores. 

What is truly baffling about this Scottsdale apartment predicament is that earlier this year, WalletHub, a reputable data analysis company, listed Scottsdale as the #1 city in the United States to rent. This may have been inflated, though, what with the building boom in the city as of late.

The massive influx in apartment buildings is a necessity, according to the city. In order to rectify the renting problem in Scottsdale, The Arizona Multi-Housing Association is continuing to increase the amount of available apartments. According to the interim president, Courtney Gilstrap LeVinus, “By 2030, metro Phoenix will need another 150,000 apartments. We are seeing significant demographic shifts that will lead to more renters. 

Increases in the number of apartment buildings in the Phoenix metro area are all well and good, but the problem of turning renters down will still remain. There is not much discussion as to how the volume of apartments being built will affect the approval rating of tenants, so time will tell whether this issue will be resolved. Hopefully LeVinus and her team will find a solution for Scottsdale and renters will be able to find affordable homes without worrying about being rejected.