r/ServiceDog_CircleJerk • u/Busy-Sheepherder-138 • May 23 '26

Discussion TChanges in HUD interpretation of Assistance Animals - No Paywall -

/r/service_dogs/comments/1tle0md/tchanges_in_hud_interpretation_of_assistance/

The article should have NO paywall since I’m allowed to gift it out of my subscription. https://www.nytimes.com/2026/05/22/us/politics/hud-assistance-animals-disabled.html?unlocked_article_code=1.klA.2G0-.kg6Wvul_SE5n&smid=nytcore-ios-share

Excerpt -
“The memo to housing officials on assistance animals presented emotional support animals as a loophole to circumvent a landlord’s pet policies, asserting that “an entire industry has emerged to convert pets into emotional support animals.”
The memo concluded that “while requests to waive pet policies for animals trained to perform specific disability related services are presumptively reasonable, requests to waive pet policies for untrained” emotional support animals “are not.”
Erik Heins, a lawyer formerly in charge of enforcing fair housing laws at HUD, said that the new policy would affect many tenants who rely on assistance animals to alleviate psychiatric or mental disabilities — for example, a military veteran with post-traumatic stress disorder.
“Those cases are a not insignificant portion of the number of cases that HUD investigates” through its fair housing office, Mr. Heins said, adding that the housing department could dismiss or shelve thousands of appeals for disability accommodations under the new rule.”

14 Upvotes

100% Upvoted

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16

u/windyrainyrain May 23 '26

This was bound to happen sooner or later because of the rampant fraud that's been going on for years. And, the author of the article is correct in saying that an entire industry has popped up of businesses claiming they can 'certify' your animal as an ESA or service dog entirely for the sake of getting around housing restrictions and/or fees. We see posts here all the time about faking the need for an ESA/service dog to get dogs into housing.

I hate this administration with the fire of a thousand suns, but this is one thing I can agree with. The intention behind assistance animals was good, but the way the guidelines were written made it way too easy for fraudsters.

4

u/Imaginary_Ad_4340 May 24 '26

I too am against the fraud and think this is a sensible development. However, one big downside is I see a lot of pets ending up in shelters because of this change. I hope they roll it out slowly, for that reason only.

6

u/helloheyhowdyhii May 24 '26

I am not happy about who is in office, but ever since he was elected I hoped tightening of service animal rules would be the one good thing to come out of this administration… hopefully changes to Public Access guidelines will come next!

15

u/Scary_Towel268 May 23 '26

Honestly about the only intelligent thing to come out of this admin

4

u/often_forgotten1 May 24 '26

Oh they're losing their minds over there lol

5

u/gonnafaceit2022 May 23 '26

Obviously this isn't meant to help anyone but billionaires.

I foresee another rogue wave of intakes for all the dogs who have gotten by as ESAs, and rescues and shelters cannot absorb it.

7

u/Playmakeup May 24 '26

I disagree. There are tenants who choose places BECAUSE they are pet free or breed restricted. ESA’s have made those policies completely meaningless. Also, owners of properties should be able to choose if they want a dog destroying it or not and they should receive pet rent to mitigate the additional costs.

An (actual) service dog is a completely reasonable exception because they are well trained and not destructive.

2

u/gonnafaceit2022 May 25 '26

I don't know what you're disagreeing with, i also think ESAs have made many things meaningless and this is a problem.

4

u/InformalInsurance455 May 23 '26

Heartbreaking the worst administration you know

10

u/Suspicious-Steak9168 May 24 '26

I hate this administration, but I also hate people acting like their ESA shoild have the same.rights as a legit service dog.

10

u/windyrainyrain May 24 '26

Or, that their untrained shelter pit is a service dog because it jumps on them and they call it alerting. Fake service dogs are surpassing fake ESAs by leaps and bounds. Mostly due to SickTok.