I've been very poor for most of my life and could never build credit. I have student loan debt that I haven't paid on because I needed to eat. I finally found a job that pays me a living wage but every fucking landlord is doing credit checks. Like, I have pay stubs that prove I can afford to rent this room but because my credit is terrible I'm sure they're just going to laugh in my face. How the fuck can I fix my credit if I can't even get a stable living situation? So my options if I can't get a room are long-term AirBNBs (WAY more expensive) or continue being homeless.
I got around this by finding a listing by a very small company, what amounted to basically one guy, and talking to him.
Depending on where you're located it might be completely overwhelmed by real estate companies though and I legitimately have no idea how to break into places like that.
Like once I went to a city I really wanted to move to, with 7 months rent in my pocket and willing to give them a full 6 months up front and they still wouldn't work with me.
I stayed there for a full month in Airbnbs meeting and talking to every single reasonable listing and... nothing. Real estate companies had eaten that market and they didn't want anyone there who wasn't affluent their entire life.
Worst part is I actually spent money on a few of those places to try to see if they'd accept me. They charged me fucking $50 to deny me lol and multiple places did this.
Suffice it to say I had to move elsewhere where I could find listings that weren't part of that scheme.
Obviously this isn't good advice in your situation, just posting for solidarity because it's not just you.
Try to find a listing that isn't part of a medium to large rental company, they are much more reasonable