James Hyde
Chief Executive OfficerIn this article
Property management companies (PMCs) want to give every applicant the home they deserve. But the ways people earn a living have changed faster than traditional income verification has kept up. Legacy methods still favor applicants with full-time, salaried employment, even as more people build stable livelihoods through gig work, freelancing, and part-time jobs.
These applicants often face unnecessary hurdles when trying to lease a home. Screening criteria built decades ago prioritize conventional employment over overall earnings and long-term reliability, so leasing teams end up passing over people who would otherwise be ideal residents simply because they don’t fit an outdated definition of financial responsibility.
Meanwhile, fraudsters exploit the very signifiers legacy screening leans on most: familiar-looking pay stubs, standard employment letters, and other easily forged formats. It’s time for screening to catch up: fair housing and effective fraud prevention aren’t competing goals. Multifamily needs an approach that protects communities from sophisticated fraud while giving people who work in jobs that didn’t exist a decade ago a fair shot.
The Rise of Non-Traditional Income in Multifamily
[Non-traditional income figure needs a sourced citation.] More than 72 million Americans reportedly now work independently, meaning freelancers and gig workers make up a substantial share of the workforce. Many of these applicants have multiple income streams that fluctuate month to month. To a legacy screening system, that fluctuation can look like a red flag. Smart leasing teams are learning to read it correctly instead: as a normal feature of how people earn a living today, not a warning sign.
Why Outdated Screening Criteria Leave Qualified Applicants Behind
Many leasing teams emphasize fraud detection in their resident screening processes, and for good reason: more than 93.3% of NMHC members reported experiencing fraud in 2024 alone, costing upwards of $4.7 billion. But modern, reliable fraud prevention focuses on catching the exact fraudsters who forge accepted signifiers of income such as AI-generated pay stubs, synthetic identities, altered bank statements, and other tech-driven grifts. It’s a system that can sometimes punish honest, hard-working prospects and reward unreliable applicants.
By strictly relying on traditional factors like credit scores and pay stubs, legacy verification rejects qualified applicants with flexible income streams. That perpetuates inequality, limits access to housing, and leaves property management companies more exposed, not less. The result is the worst of both worlds: more fraud slipping through and fewer good applicants getting approved. Add in the cost of running stringent background checks and manual income verification, and the case against legacy screening gets even harder to defend.
What Does Fair, Modern Income Verification Actually Look Like?
To foster a rental market that recognizes good applicants rather than rejecting them for not having standard nine-to-five jobs, leasing teams must evolve to adopt agile, up-to-date fraud-prevention approaches that understand and accommodate non-traditional income sources.
Use flexible income verification. Instead of relying on one or two legacy methods, accept a range of verification paths: uploaded bank statements or pay stubs, connected payroll or bank linking, and asset verification. Together, these give a fuller picture of an applicant’s financial situation than any single document can.
Evaluate total financial health, not just income. Some applicants are still building or rebuilding credit but have two or more years of on-time rent payments behind them. Looking at the full financial picture, not one number in isolation, surfaces more qualified applicants.
Build trust through a consistent process. Applicants do better when screening is clear and predictable. A standardized, technology-backed process, rather than case-by-case judgment calls, builds trust between applicants and property teams and keeps every decision audit-ready.
Adopt “wide net” policies. Set best practices that support the inclusion of a wider range of applicants, and train staff to recognize implicit bias so fair housing practices hold up in practice, not just on paper.
Adopting a more open and modern approach to resident screening can have numerous benefits for both leasing teams and residents. For example, by considering a wider range of applicants, teams can fill vacancies more quickly and reduce turnover rates. More open-minded screening practices also improve trust and understanding with residents, leading to longer leases and a more harmonious relationship. And it should go without saying that these practices foster vibrant, resilient communities, enhancing the quality of life for all residents.
The residential market must evolve to reflect the changing nature of employment and income. Embracing the many financial realities of today’s workforce benefits residents and strengthens the rental market as a whole. By pairing fraud detection with more inclusive practices, leasing teams can create a more equitable and successful rental environment. New approaches like flexible income verification help providers recognize the contributions of individuals with non-traditional incomes, helping PMCs give everyone access to the housing they deserve, even as employment (and fraud) evolves.
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