那些美国移民中介账号哪去了？这些问题不是该由他们回答吗？
首先，确实没有任何美国联邦法律规定必须有工作才能租房。
但是，联邦法律同样不禁止雇主要求应聘者提供住址等住所证明（除非涉及性别歧视、种族歧视等），也不禁止房主要求住户提供工作证明。
不管是美国官方的调查（比如美国住房与城市发展部和美国无家可归问题跨机构委员会）还是社会研究，都是承认这种悖论是客观存在的，比如“Address paradox”，“Paradox of homelessness / housing paradox” ，虽然不是专有名词或者学术化词汇，但是美国人自己知道这是啥意思。
美国租房资源网站apartments有一篇直白的指南《15 Ways Renters Can Show Proof of Income（租房者可以展示收入证明的15种方法）》
美国主流房地产平台Zillow也有对于公寓等设施的入住介绍：《What Do Apartment Background Checks Look For?（公寓背景调查主要关注哪些方面？）》
Background checks for apartments are typically fairly extensive, involving an assessment of a rental applicant’s consumer reporting information such as credit, eviction, and criminal history, along with application materials like employment and income verification. Since multiple services manage background checks for apartment communities, the checks may vary slightly from one rental to the next.
公寓租房的背景调查通常相当全面，包括评估租房申请人的信用记录、驱逐记录和犯罪记录等消费者报告信息，以及就业和收入证明等申请材料。由于公寓社区的背景调查由多家机构负责，因此不同租房项目的调查内容可能略有不同。
Your employment may be verified as part of a rental background check to confirm your job history. The landlord or property manager may ask you to provide your job title, employer, manager's name, contact information, and length of employment. Typically, as part of the verification process, they will call your employer to verify that the information you provided is correct or request an employment verification letter. If you’re unemployed or currently not working, you may need to include a co-signer. If you’re self-employed, you may need to provide a copy of your business licenses, tax returns, profit and loss statements, or contracts with clients — anything to prove you have a legitimate business.
租房背景调查可能会核实您的就业情况，以确认您的工作经历。房东或物业经理可能会要求您提供职位、雇主、经理姓名、联系方式以及工作年限。通常，作为核实流程的一部分，他们会致电您的雇主以确认您提供的信息是否正确，或要求您提供就业证明信。如果您目前失业或没有工作，您可能需要提供一位共同签署人。如果您是自雇人士，您可能需要提供营业执照、纳税申报表、损益表或客户合同的副本——任何能够证明您拥有合法业务的文件。
注意，这里的currently not working（没有工作）甚至附有一篇链接《How to Get an Apartment Without a Job（如何在没有工作的情况下租到公寓）》。
而没有住所导致的就业困难同样是一个热门话题，比如《Yale Law Journal》（耶鲁法律杂志）就有一篇批评这种就业歧视的文章：
“People yell to go get a job, but . . . when you don’t have an address, it is impossible for [an employer] to call you back.”Anthony, a single father, became homeless after he was laid off from his job in 2013 and faced an increase in his rent. Since then, his ten-year-old son has stayed with a relative, and Anthony has been desperate to find a job so that he can live with his son again. Despite applying to hundreds of jobs, Anthony has not been optimistic that a reunion will be imminent: “Everyone uses the shelter address, but the moment they see that . . . there is a red flag—no, there is a black flag on your resumé.”
“人们大声喊着要去找工作，但是……如果你没有地址，雇主就不可能给你回电话。”安东尼是一位单身父亲，2013年失业后，由于房租上涨，他无家可归。从那时起，他十岁的儿子就一直寄住在亲戚家，安东尼迫切地想要找到一份工作，以便能再次和儿子住在一起。尽管他已经投递了数百份简历，但安东尼并不乐观，认为很快就能与儿子团聚：“每个人都用收容所的地址，但当他们看到这个地址时……就会觉得不对劲——不，应该说，你的简历上已经挂了黑旗。”
来自民间组织nest community shelter（Nest社区庇护所，为无家可归者提供临时紧急庇护，不仅提供住所、食物和其他资源）的报告里明确强调了这种悖论：
The lack of a permanent address creates what many service providers call “the address paradox”: one needs an address to get identification, identification to get a job, and a job to afford housing with an address. This circular problem keeps many individuals in a frustrating cycle that is difficult to break without skilled support.
Most employers require a physical address on job applications for several practical reasons: to verify identity, send tax documents, conduct background checks, and communicate with employees. When an applicant cannot provide this basic information, the application process often stops immediately. Even online applications typically have address fields marked as “required,” creating an immediate barrier before a person can showcase their skills and qualifications.
缺乏固定住址造成了许多服务提供者所说的“地址悖论”：人们需要地址才能获得身份证明，需要身份证明才能找到工作，而需要工作才能负担得起有固定住址的住房。这种循环往复的问题使许多人陷入了令人沮丧的困境，如果没有专业的帮助，很难打破这种困境。
大多数雇主出于多种实际原因，要求求职申请表上填写实际地址：核实身份、寄送税务文件、进行背景调查以及与员工沟通。如果申请人无法提供这项基本信息，申请流程通常会立即终止。即使是在线申请，地址栏通常也会被标记为“必填”，这在求职者展示自身技能和资历之前就设置了一道障碍。
至于那些去美国的留学生、员工或者移民，只要你是合法进入美国，你的F-1学生签证、H-1B工作签证、绿卡/永久居留权在雇主、银行和房东面前甚至是比这些失业者的评估更高的。