A proposed bill that would help people with pets experiencing homelessness access D.C.’s shelter system is making its way through the D.C. Council, with a public hearing likely to take place this fall. The Pets in Housing Act, introduced by At-large D.C. Council member Robert White, will also help D.C. pet owners who struggle to find housing due to breed-specific fees or restrictions.
Last year more than 600 families had to give their pets to the Humane Rescue Alliance (HRA), which has locations in D.C. and New Jersey, due to issues with landlords and pet-friendly housing accommodations, according to the HRA’s Chief Programs Officer Bobby Mann. For people with pets who are experiencing homelessness, there are few options because no low-barrier shelters in D.C. currently accept pets unless they are documented service animals, leading people to choose between giving up their pet and going into shelter, or sleeping outside.
White introduced the Pets in Housing Act on May 22 after working with the RHA and Animal Welfare Project. If passed, the bill would require the Department of Human Services (DHS) to offer at least one pet-friendly low-barrier shelter for individuals experiencing homelessness. The bill would also cap the monthly pet rent at $25 and pet security deposit at $300, prohibit landlords from charging different fees and implementing restrictions for certain animal breeds, and ban non-refundable pet fees for low-income prospective tenants and residents living in an affordable housing unit.
“The requirement for a low barrier human shelter will help keep pets and their owners together, reducing the number of pets entering our facility due to owners being unable to take them into shelters,” Mann wrote in an email.
White said the bill seeks to prevent situations where a person experiencing homelessness avoids going into a shelter out of fear they will be separated from their pet. Homeless advocates often cite pets, as well as partners and possessions, as a main reason some people refuse to sleep in shelters, instead living in encampments. D.C.’s shelter hotline confirmed shelters in D.C. currently only allow people to bring pets if they have papers to prove the pet is a service animal.
“We want to make sure that doesn’t become a barrier to shelter, to making progress in one’s life, and certainly we don’t want pets or concern about our pets to be the reason somebody stays in an abusive house,” White said, referencing that pets can also be a barrier to people leaving unsafe living conditions.
White, who chairs the Committee on Housing, said his fellow committee members are in contact with people who live and have lived in shelters and provided input on the need for pet-friendly shelters in D.C. Many people experiencing homelessness or domestic violence either have an emotional support animal or a pet before deciding to go into a shelter, he said, and the bill will make sure people aren’t forced to choose between relinquishing their pet or gaining access to shelter.
“I want to make sure people aren’t thinking about pets as this luxury, unnecessary thing, and more thinking about pets the way they are in reality, as parts of our family,” White said.
Mann said the HRA, White’s team, and the Animal Welfare Project will work with other partners like D.C. Voters for Animals to gain support for the legislation.
Joan Schaffner, the director of George Washington University Law School’s Animal Welfare Project — an independent group of students and professors who research existing and proposed animal protection laws — worked with White and the HRA to draft the legislation. Schaffner, who uses ze/zir pronouns, said the part of the legislation requiring access to pet-friendly shelters was the most difficult to draft. Ze said when drafting the bill some people expressed concern about the cost of creating pet-friendly shelters and the impacts pets could cause shelter residents with allergies or fear of animals.
The group ultimately decided to request DHS provide one pet-friendly shelter, which Schaffner said is a good starting point because it gives pet owners a housing option without restricting other people’s access to shelters.
“Especially if you just require they have one, then obviously it doesn’t mean that everybody has to go to that one shelter, and it’s not like we’re saying all the shelters have to have animals,” ze said.
Offering a pet-friendly shelter is crucial because many people experiencing homelessness have pets with them and currently would be required to leave them if they entered a shelter, according to Schaffner. Ze said this results in more stray animals and harm to people who rely on their pets for support.
“We also do know that the relationship that one has with their pets is very important and particularly, I would say, for someone without housing, their pet is even probably more significant to them,” Schaffner said.
