On January 29, 2020 the US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Office of Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity (FHEO) released new assistance on guidance animals. Notice FHEO2020-01 ("Assistance Animals Notice") includes two parts and the new guidance is 19 pages long and may help when someone tries to pass off a regular pet as an assistance animal. Here are some answers to questions that are generally asked.
What Is an Assistance Animal? An assistance animal is an animal that works, provides assistance, or performs tasks for the benefit of a person with a disability, or that provides emotional support that alleviates one or more identified effects of a person’s disability.
An assistance animal is not a pet. HUD now expressly states that the person making the request must have a disability that substantially limits at least one major life activity or major bodily function and that the services the animal provides must be directly related to that disability. It also states that it is best practice to make a determination on a requested accommodation within ten (10) days. HUD also notes that the licensed medical professional on which the person requesting the accommodation relies should have personal knowledge of the person making the request and disability involved.
Obligations of Housing Providers
If the request for accommodation is for an animal not commonly kept in a household, the person making the request for an accommodation has the burden to demonstrate a disability-related therapeutic need for the specific animal or that type of animal. On HUD’s list of common household pets is dogs, cats, small birds, rabbits, hamsters, gerbils and other rodents, fish, turtles or other small, domesticated animals traditionally kept in the home for pleasure, not commercial purposes. Noted specifically as NOT a household pet are: Reptiles other than turtles, barnyard animals, monkeys, kangaroos and other non-domesticated animals. The requester has the burden of proving the need for a “unique” animal. The Fair Housing Act requires a housing provider to allow a reasonable accommodation involving an assistance animal in situations that meet all the following conditions: • A request was made to the housing provider by or for a person with a disability • The request was supported by reliable disability-related information if the disability and the disability-related need for the animal were not apparent and the housing provider requested such information, and • The housing provider has not demonstrated that: o Granting the request would impose an undue financial and administrative burden on the housing provider. o The request would fundamentally alter the essential nature of the housing provider’s operations.
Individuals with a disability may request to keep an assistance animal as a reasonable accommodation to a housing provider’s pet restrictions. Remember, the assistance animal is NOT a pet.
o The specific assistance animal in question would pose a direct threat to the health or safety of others despite any other reasonable accommodations that could eliminate or reduce the threat.
Housing providers cannot refuse to make reasonable accommodations in rules, policies, practices, or services when such accommodations may be necessary to afford a person with a disability the equal opportunity to use and enjoy a dwelling.
o The request would not result in significant physical damage to the property of others despite any other reasonable accommodations that could eliminate or reduce the physical damage.
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