HUD Excludes Emotional Support Animals From Public Housing Aid, Threatening Thousands of Tenants
Updated
Updated · The New York Times · May 23
HUD Excludes Emotional Support Animals From Public Housing Aid, Threatening Thousands of Tenants
2 articles · Updated · The New York Times · May 23
An internal HUD memo ordered fair-housing staff to stop treating emotional support animals as protected assistance animals, effective immediately, while tightening checks on service-animal claims in public housing.
The shift means disabled tenants with no-pet waivers for untrained emotional support animals could lose those accommodations and face pet fees, removal demands or eviction.
HUD said an "entire industry" has emerged to turn pets into emotional support animals, framing the change as a crackdown on a loophole in landlord pet policies.
The move reverses guidance from Trump’s first term that said emotional support animals were not pets under the Fair Housing Act and could qualify for disability accommodations.
Former HUD enforcement official Erik Heins said the policy could hit many tenants with psychiatric disabilities, including veterans with PTSD, and lead the agency to dismiss or shelve thousands of accommodation appeals.
Could thousands of disabled tenants be evicted under HUD's new emotional support animal policy?
With support animals no longer protected, what alternatives exist for tenants with mental health disabilities?