I would like start off by saying that while a lot of places will turn you down and a lot of landlords will turn you away, there are places in the world that welcome all breeds with open arms! It might take you a little longer to find them but they DO exist! Don't get discouraged.
Give Yourself Enough Time
The most important thing is to give yourself time. We did not give ourselves adequate time to find housing (we didn't really have a choice in the matter) and we were extremely lucky to find the apartment complex we currently live in. They had one apartment available. We said we'll take it. It was out of price range. We said we'll make it work. They said ok. And then we had several hoops to quickly figure out how to jump through like getting renters insurance and liability insurance on Lilly. Giving yourself adequate time will significantly reduce your stress and panic level!
Where To Start the Search
One of the first websites that I came across and that I found to be the most helpful was
My Pit Bull Is Family, specifically the housing section of their website. You click on the state you're searching for housing in and a list of non-discriminatory properties comes up alphabetized based on city. They state it on their website and I will say it speaking from experience NOT every property listed is all-breed friendly. Some have updated their policies, etc. Use it as a guide, not as your golden ticket.
Check to see if your state has some sort of bully breed alliance or large advocacy group with housing resources/information posted on their website. That is ultimately how we ended up finding our current apartment. We're looking at moving to Colorado for graduate school and I've already started looking at one of their large Pit Bull advocacy group locations and trying to find a safe "bubble" to move into.
Example:
Colorado - ColoRADogs (list of cities with and without BSL)
Getting Liability Insurance
This was extremely frustrating. First of all I was 19 years old when all of this going on. Yes, that's correct. 19 years old. Fresh out of high school. Just started college. Just got married. I was doing this all on my own. I wasn't sure how to fill out a check correctly to pay rent much less call insurance companies and somehow magically obtain liability insurance on my apparently vicious pit bull puppy. If I could figure out how to do all of this as a clueless 19 year old I promise you can figure it out too! And probably do it with a lot more finesse than I did at the time. Lilly's liability insurance is through State Farm. Lilly's liability insurance is bundled with our renters insurance policy and it's less than $20 a month for the bundle. Are we required to have liability insurance on Lilly because of her breed? No. Our apartment complex is all-breed friendly. They require all dogs over 35 pounds to have liability insurance regardless of breed. That will vary from place to place. Is liability insurance a good thing to have? I think so. You've got your bases covered that way. Lilly's liability insurance covers injury to a person and also damage of property belonging to the person.
BAD RAP. ORG
BAD RAP is an organization that I personally need to invest more time looking into. They have tons of great resources for pit bull owners. They really go above and beyond when it comes to advocating for the breed and helping educate the general public and owners on how amazing these dogs really are. They have information on their website about insurance providers and renting with your dog , as well information on training and much more.