HUD response to allowing service animals and emotional support animals in a congregant emergency shelter
HUD has addressed most of your questions below and have provided some additional guidance. This response, which is based on guidance from FHEO Notice: FHEO-2020-01, pertains to both emotional support animals and service animals.
Please note that for purposes of guidance from FHEO Notice: FHEO-2020-01, the term “housing” refers to all housing covered by the Fair Housing Act, including apartments, condominiums, cooperatives, single-family homes, nursing homes, assisted living facilities, group homes, domestic violence shelters, emergency shelters, homeless shelters, dormitories, and other types of housing covered by the FH. (FHEO Notice: FHEO-2020-0, p. 3, footnote #5).
1. Do shelters have to let in clients claiming the need for emotional support animals (not service animals)?
Persons with disabilities may request a reasonable accommodation for service animals and other types of assistance animals, including support animals, under the Fair Housing Act (FHA). The FHA requires housing providers to modify or make exceptions to policies governing animals when it may be necessary to permit persons with disabilities to utilize animals. Because HUD interprets the FHA to require access for individuals who use service animals, housing providers, which includes shelter providers, should initially follow the analysis that DOJ has determined is used for assessing whether an animal is a service animal under the ADA. The Department of Justice’s ADA regulations generally require state and local governments and public accommodations to permit the use of service animals by an individual with a disability. For support animals and other assistance animals that may be necessary in housing, although the ADA does not provide for access, housing providers must comply with the FHA, which does provide for access. Specifically, under the Fair Housing Act, housing providers are obligated to permit, as a reasonable accommodation, the use of animals that work, provide assistance, or perform tasks that benefit persons with disabilities, or provide emotional support to alleviate a symptom of effect of a disability.
The FHA does not require a dwelling to be made available to an individual whose tenancy would constitute a direct threat to the health or safety of other individuals or whose tenancy would result in substantial physical damage to the property of others. A housing provider may, therefore, refuse a reasonable accommodation for an assistance animal if the specific animal poses a direct threat that cannot be eliminated or reduced to an acceptable level through actions the individual takes to maintain or control the animal (e.g., keeping the animal in a secure enclosure). (See Joint Statement Q and A 4 (May 17, 2004), at huddojstatement.pdf).
2. Is it correct that ESG would not cover cost of these animals?
That is correct. While emergency shelters may not prohibit emotional support animals in emergency shelters, please note that the handler is responsible for caring for and supervising the animal, which includes toileting, feeding, grooming, and veterinary care. ESG recipients and subrecipients are not obligated to supervise or otherwise care for a pet or service animal, and costs associated with such care are not eligible ESG Program expenses. Instead, recipients and subrecipients may consider seeking private donations or state or local funding to cover these costs.
Resources
- HUD’s website, https://www.hud.gov/helping-americans/assistance-animals.
- FHEO Notice 2020-01, https://www.hud.gov/sites/dfiles/PA/documents/HUDAsstAnimalNC1-28-2020.pdf
- Joint Statement of HUD and DOJ on Reasonable Accommodations under the Fair Housing Act, https://www.hud.gov/sites/documents/huddojstatement.pdf
- DOJ publicly available resources:
- ADA info on service animals: https://www.ada.gov/resources/service-animals-2010-requirements/