This post was also published as a commentary in VTDigger.
The recent VTDigger article “‘All I have left’: The struggle of seeking shelter with pets” highlighted the challenges of equitable housing access for people with pets and assistance animals.
The Champlain Valley Office of Economic Opportunity’s Fair Housing Project and the Vermont Tenants Hotline receive a lot of questions related to assistance animals from renters and also from housing and service providers around the state. I’m writing to share some information about fair housing rights for people with disabilities, provide resources for anyone experiencing discrimination in their housing, and advocate for a shift in how transitional housing providers accommodate both assistance animals and pets.
First of all, and most importantly, assistance animals are not pets. They are a special class of animal protected under the Fair Housing Act, which includes service animals, companion animals, emotional support animals, and therapy animals. Assistance animals do not need to be specially trained and can be any reasonable animal. This is much broader than public accommodations for service animals under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), which must be trained to do work or perform tasks that are directly related to an individual’s disability.
Anyone with a disability (physical, mental or in recovery from addiction) has the right to request a reasonable accommodation to have an animal that helps the person have full use and enjoyment of their home. The animal may provide assistance, perform tasks or provide emotional support to alleviate a symptom or effect of the person’s disability. There must be a nexus between the disability and the need for the animal. Housing providers can ask for documentation from a medical or service professional, but they cannot ask the nature of the disability.
Housing providers must respond to the requests in a timely fashion and cannot say no to a reasonable accommodation request just because of a “no pet” policy, and charging a fee or a pet deposit for an assistance animal is against the law. Visit the HUD website for information on what constitutes “reasonable.”
There is much legal debate about whether shelters and short-term transitional lodging are covered under the Fair Housing Act, which would allow all types of assistance animals, or just under ADA, which only allows trained service animals. No matter what, motels are always covered under the ADA and must allow service animals.
At CVOEO, we know it is difficult for people who are low-income, people with disabilities, and especially people experiencing homelessness to navigate and afford to have a trained service animal under the ADA. We firmly believe that transitional housing should at minimum follow fair housing rules for assistance animals and ideally allow pets as well. We strongly encourage motels and service providers who are receiving public funds to recognize the critical role animals have in the lives of the people we serve and to foster environments for people — and their animals — to live in safety and with dignity.