New Guidance Offers Clarity for Service, Emotional Support Animal Issues

The multifamily housing industry got some much-needed relief earlier this year for what has been a nagging problem in recent years – accommodating emotional support animal requests. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) release on reasonable accommodations under the Fair Housing Act relating to Assistance Animals gives direction to apartment operators on how to handle requests for reasonable accommodations not only for service animals but for those trained or untrained animals that provide therapeutic emotional support for individuals with disabilities, more commonly known as emotional support animals. “Assessing a Person’s Request to Have an Animal as a Reasonable Accommodation Under the Fair Housing Act” is a big win for the multifamily housing industry, which has steadily pressed lawmakers for guidance on handling accommodations, especially when no-pet policies are in place and questionable online verifications are presented.   Welcome news for better compliance with fair housing laws The National Apartment Association called HUD’s guidance welcome news and hopes it helps “rental housing providers mitigate abuse, ensure better compliance with fair housing laws and continue to protect the rights of disabled persons to live with their service animals and emotional support animals.” NAA is working with industry experts to update the organization’s Emotional Support Animal toolkit. The need for clarity was brought on by a growing concern in multifamily housing and other industries because of overwhelming accommodation requests by residents and applicants to allow emotional support animals in no-pet environments, and to grant exceptions to existing policies on prohibited breeds or weight restrictions, as well as pet deposits or fees. “This made it extremely difficult for owners and operators to parse out legitimate requests from illegitimate ones,” NAA said. HUD reco...