Apartment Guru: Good Person, Bad Credit

Dear Apartment Guru,

My boyfriend and I want to move in together but his credit is a mess. He has a good job and he is definitely pulling it together, but as it stands things are pretty bleak. The other day we put in an application on a place and were turned down because of it. What are our options if we don't want to end up in a hovel?

-The Grown-Up in the Relationship