Church to pay tenants rent?

[Marty Calhoun]

I have a possible tenant that just moved to TX with 4 kids from Utah because her future ex-husband abused her. Her church in Utah has agreed to pay her monthly rent payment for a year but will not co-sign. She is British and has a green card but no job yet and no credit, her husband handed everything and she has never worked. She does have a co-signer and I want to help but wanted to get some advice from the group on if this is a good idea, should I charge extra deposit or what? Thank you in advance for any input.

[Adam Martin]

Nope.  Your gut is telling you this is a bad idea so you posted here looking for confirmation and got it.  Your instincts seem good so I would follow them as this is a high risk situation.  You have an international renter with no income being sponsored by a church that is unwilling to cosign but someone else is.  It is a tight market for rentals despite being winter, be patient and a better candidate will come along.  Very few of us here regret being too cautious, while many tried to rationalize risky situations and regretted it.