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Emotional Support Animals and the Housing Crisis: Loophole or Lifeline · The Animal Advocate

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  Welcome back to the Animal Advocate. Housing issues
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  consistently rank among the top reasons people surrender their pets to
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  shelters. As rents climb and pet inclusive apartments
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  become scarcer, more families face an impossible
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  keep their home or keep their pet. When advocates
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  encounter these situations, we often hear about emotional support
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  animals as a potential solution. But there's
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  widespread confusion about what ESAs are,
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  how they differ from service animals, and what legal protections
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  exist. So today we're clarifying these distinctions
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  so that you can be an informed resource in your community.
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  Welcome to the Animal Advocate, where we arm animal
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  lovers with the information and inspiration you need to become
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  effective advocates. I'm your host, Penny Ellison, and
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  I've taught animal law and advocacy at the University of Pennsylvania
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  since 2. If you've ever thought
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  someone should do something about that, I'm here to guide. You on
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  your journey to being that someone. You can find
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  us on the web@animaladvocacyacademy.com
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  and that's where you'll find show notes and resources, and you can
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  send us your comments on episodes and ideas for topics you'd like to
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  hear on future shows. So onto today's
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  topic.
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  Today we're talking about emotional support animals and housing,
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  what ESA status means legally, how it differs from service
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  animals under the ada, and what advocates need to know when
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  people ask them about these options. Look, rents are
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  climbing and pushing people further into poverty.
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  Across the country, shelters are seeing an increase in owner surrenders
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  and the inability to find affordable housing, and is high on the list
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  of reasons for families struggling already with
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  rising rents, pet deposits and monthly pet fees,
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  often 3 to $500 up front plus
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  25 to $75 a month that can make housing
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  with pets financially impossible. And even among
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  properties that advertise their pet friendly, most still have
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  breed or size restrictions that exclude the majority of
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  dogs in shelters. When people facing these barriers ask
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  advocates about the possibility of an emotional support
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  animal, they're often confused about what ESAs
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  are and how they differ from service animals. So
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  let's start with service animals under the Americans with Disabilities
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  Act. Under the ada, service animals are
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  defined very specifically. They must be dogs or in rare
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  cases, miniature horses that are individually trained to
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  perform specific tasks to assist someone with a disability.
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  We're talking about guide dogs for people with vision impairments,
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  dogs that alert people with hearing loss to sound,
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  dogs that detect dangerous drops in blood sugar,
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  dogs that help people with PTSD through trained psychiatric
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  responses. The distinguishing feature?
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  Trained to perform tasks directly related to the
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  person's disability. Service dogs by law
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  can accompany their handlers, anywhere the public can go.
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  Restaurants, grocery stores, hospitals, public
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  transportation. That is the federal law under the
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  ada. And the training required for service animals is extensive.
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  Real service dogs go through months or years of
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  specialized preparation to perform their tasks reliably
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  in all environments. They're prepared for crowds,
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  noise and unpredictable situations in ways that typical
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  pets are not. Emotional support animals fall into
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  a completely different legal category. ESAs
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  provide therapeutic benefit through companionship to people with mental
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  health or psychiatric disabilities. They don't need
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  specialized task training, and they can be any
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  species. And here's what advocates need to understand.
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  Clearly, emotional support animals are not protected
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  by the ada. Emotional support animals can't go into
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  restaurants, stores or other public places. They don't
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  have access rights to businesses and the Americans with
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  Disabilities Act. The ADA doesn't apply to ESAs at
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  all. So where do emotional support animals have legal
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  protections? The answer is housing A under the Fair
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  Housing Act. The Fair Housing act requires
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  landlords to make reasonable accommodations for people with disabilities.
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  This includes allowing emotional support animals in housing
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  with no pet policies and waiving pet deposits
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  and monthly fees if they exist. This is
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  a real accommodation for people with qualifying mental health disabilities,
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  but it's frequently misunderstood. To legally qualify for an
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  ESA accommodation under the Fair Housing act, three
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  things are required. First, the person must
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  have a diagnosed mental health disability recognized in the
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  dsm. That's the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of
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  Mental Disorders. We're talking about conditions like Major
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  Depressive Disorder, generalized Anxiety Disorder,
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  PTSD and similar disabilities.
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  Second, documentation must come from a licensed mental
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  health professional who is treating that person. This
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  needs to be a real therapeutic relationship with someone who knows their history
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  and can attest to their disability. And third,
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  that mental health professional must confirm that the person needs the animal
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  to alleviate symptoms of their disability. Not that it would be nice
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  to have, not just for companionship, that they need it
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  for their mental health. What's not required is the animal doesn't
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  need any special training like a service animal. It doesn't need to
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  perform specific tasks, and there's no requirement to
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  register the animal anywhere. Now, let's talk about
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  documentation, because this is where advocates need to be careful about the information
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  they share. There are legitimate ways to obtain
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  ESA documentation, and there are scams.
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  For an ESA letter to be legally validated, it must
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  be written by a licensed mental health professional who's assessed the
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  person's need for an emotional support animal. It must include the
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  professional's license information, contact details, and be
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  on official letterhead. It must state that the animal supports their
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  mental health and it has to comply with state laws, including any
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  minimum relationship time requirements. Like some states
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  require a 30 day client relationship to exist between the
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  therapist and and the person requesting the accommodation.
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  Legitimate telehealth providers exist where licensed mental health
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  professionals conduct real assessments remotely. As long as the provider
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  is licensed in the person's state and a proper assessment has been made,
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  that letter has the same legal standing as one obtained in person.
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  The problem is that many websites sell
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  ESA certificates or registration
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  with no assessment at all, and these are not worth the paper they're
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  printed on. There is no such thing as a legally
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  recognized emotional support animal registry in the United
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  States. When advocates encounter someone who's purchased one of these
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  online certificates, they should understand that landlords and housing
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  authorities are familiar with these and they'll request legitimate
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  documentation from an actual health care provider. Many
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  people with mental health disabilities genuinely benefit from emotional support
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  animals. Depression, anxiety,
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  ptsd, panic disorders. These are real
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  debilitating conditions. And for many people, an
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  animal's companionship provides real therapeutic value.
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  The challenge arises when the accommodation system is misused.
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  When landlords repeatedly encounter illegitimate ESA
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  claims, they become more suspicious of all requests,
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  including legitimate ones. They may require more documentation,
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  maybe ask inappropriate questions, or find other
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  reasons to deny housing. And that means people with
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  legitimate disabilities who need these protections might face additional
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  barriers. That's the real cost when these accommodations are
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  misunderstood or misused. So what do
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  advocates need to know when someone asks about emotional support animals?
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  First, be honest about what an ESA is and isn't.
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  It's not a way around pet policies for people who simply want to keep their
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  pet. It's a legal accommodation for people with mental health
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  disabilities who genuinely need their animal for therapeutic
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  reasons. Second, if someone has a
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  legitimate mental health disability and their healthcare provider confirms
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  that an emotional support animal would benefit them therapeutically,
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  they are entitled to that accommodation under the Fair Housing Act.
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  That's the law. Third, know that the
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  process requires real documentation from an actual healthcare
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  provider who has evaluated them online.
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  Registries that sell certificates without assessment aren't
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  legitimate. None of them. Fourth,
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  recognize that emotional support animals have no public access
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  rights. If someone says they're taking their ESA into a
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  restaurant or store, they're either confused about the law
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  or misrepresenting their animal. Only ADA service
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  animals have those access rights. Of course,
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  as advocates, when we see people surrendering pets due to housing
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  barriers, if an emotional support animal isn't the right solution,
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  our response needs to go further. We need to work on the
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  underlying housing crisis. Sure, it seems
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  overwhelming, and the animal welfare community certainly can't solve
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  it entirely. But there are actions we can take,
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  like advocating for more affordable, truly pet
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  inclusive housing without breed or size restrictions,
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  pushing back against excessive pet deposits and fees that
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  make housing financially impossible for pet owners, and
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  supporting programs that help families keep their pets.
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  California and Illinois give tenants with pets legal protections,
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  and the District of Columbia Council recently passed an ordinance
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  limiting pet security deposits and additional excessive pet
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  rent. We'll drop links to those in the show notes so you
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  have models to look at, and that's the kind of upstream work
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  that takes a while, but it prevents surrenders, it keeps
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  families together, and it opens up kennels and shelters
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  now for today's Q and A. Today's question comes from
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  Sarah, and Sarah writes, I'm looking for a new
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  apartment. Ever since the pandemic, I feel depressed all the
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  time and my dog is one of the only things that makes me feel better.
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  How do I know if I qualify for an esa?
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  Sarah first, I'm sorry for how you're feeling
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  and what you're describing. Feeling better when you're with your dog.
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  That's something that many pet owners experience. Our animals,
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  of course, bring us comfort and joy, but that feeling
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  alone doesn't meet the legal standard for an emotional support
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  animal. Under the Fair Housing act, an ESA
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  accommodation is specifically for people with diagnosed mental health
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  disability who need their animal to help manage symptoms
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  of that disability. So the question isn't whether your dog makes you feel
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  better. The question is whether you have a mental health condition that requires
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  treatment and whether a mental health professional treating you
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  believes the animal is necessary for your health. If
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  you've been experiencing depression since the pandemic and it's affecting your daily
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  life, that's something worth discussing with a mental health professional,
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  regardless of the housing question. If you're then diagnosed with a
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  condition like major depressive disorder and your therapist or
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  psychiatrist determines that your dog plays a necessary
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  therapeutic role in managing your symptoms, they can provide
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  you documentation for an ESA accommodation.
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  And now for this week's Be the Change segment, Today's action
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  step is just to bookmark the guidance document that Housing and
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  Urban Development puts out called Assistance Animals and Reasonable
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  Accommodations for People with Disabilities in Housing. And
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  of course, we'll drop a link to that because it's a big mouthful, but that
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  way you'll have the federal Fair Housing act standards at your
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  fingertips. When someone in your community has questions,
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  it's also where you find the complaint form to file. If someone with
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  an emotional support animal was wrongfully denied housing.
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  That's how advocates move from compassion into informed
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  action. That's it
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  for today. The Animal Advocate Podcast is brought to you by
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  the Animal Advocacy Academy. You can find episodes
• 13:34
  and show notes at Animal Advocacy Academy,
• 13:38
  along with a link to our Facebook and LinkedIn pages where we discuss
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  our podcasts, and we'd love to discuss your thoughts and experiences
• 13:46
  there. If you're interested in learning more about protecting
• 13:49
  animals, subscribe to the show so. You get every episode when
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  it comes out. If you have any questions on this or any
• 13:57
  other topic related to animal law, email them to
• 14:00
  podcastnimaladvocacy
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  and we'll make sure to get them answered. We'll either email you back
• 14:08
  or feature them in a future episode, or both.
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  And remember, compassion is great, but
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  compassionate action is infinitely better. Until
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  next week, Live with Compassion.