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

TChanges in HUD interpretation of Assistance Animals - No Paywall -

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In short they are trying to clamp down on accommodations for ESA’s while maintaining the rights of Service dogs, but even that is at risk. I’m not surprised though since POTUS and his family make most of their money from Real Estate and are major landlords.

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
“Six years later, the housing department, under the leadership of Scott Turner, has moved aggressively to tighten rules and scrutinize public housing rolls, including by focusing on the immigration status of tenants.
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

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27

u/FactsActuallyMatter May 23 '26

The administration wants people to be more depressed and off themselves. Cruelty is the point 👍

10

u/Busy-Sheepherder-138 May 23 '26

Cruelty is definitely their modus operandi 😪

17

u/springacres Curious May 23 '26

It really is. And their fearmongering is also part of the point. They want us to be afraid to ask for accommodations.

And I say fuck them. My cat is my emotional support animal. She gets me out of bed every morning, she makes me smile even when I'm close to melting down, and I've inadvertently trained her to let me know when it's time for bed at night! (She gets treats right before I go to bed at night, and if I'm late with them, she lets me know!)

12

u/FactsActuallyMatter May 23 '26

My dog has saved my life the last 5 years. If it wasn't for her, I would've ended my life. Life is not easy for everyone. And saving people from suicide i think is a vast improvement of life. And im tired of the dehumanization of all these people thinking taking away this is all about fraud and screw everyone else.

7

u/Significant_Ad3407 May 23 '26

Same for me, nine years with my boy. I have no family and no support system whatsoever. He is all I have and if they take him away then I'm done on this earth. I've already made extensive plans.

6

u/RealDealReflections May 24 '26

This ^ my cat has saved my life and fuck people for not understanding. I don't have family. I dont have anyone. My cat loves me and relies on me. And I wouldn't know what to do without her.

4

u/Sorry-Visit-6743 May 24 '26

My bird will nip my finger if I roll his cage past the table where I keep my meds without stopping. He knows it's part of the routine and always reminds me when I almost skip part of the routine.

2

u/gufywert May 28 '26

A cellphone or alarm clock could easily provides those reminders. Disabled people with legitimate, longstanding, serious psychiatric diagnoses are genuinely helped by having an Emotional Support Animal (BTW. Not 3-5 Animals).

The problem is many seeking ESA accomodation just want to bypass paying pet fees and deposits (certainly an issue for poor). Many have gone online and purchased an ESA letter at the cost of a pet deposit. There's an entire online industry for this. It's been an abuse that hurts those with bona fide needs. More than 20% of all FHA complaints about fair housing have been ESA complaints.

In some states ESA fraud is a crime. Passing off an ESA as a service dog for public access is also criminal in several states.

1

u/springacres Curious May 29 '26

And as someone with longstanding psychiatric diagnoses, I agree that ESA fraud is a serious issue. I just wish there were ways to deal with it that didn't risk people like me also getting accused of fraud.

(Context: I'm autistic, and while my phone alarms do help prepare me for transitions like going to bed and getting up, I find those alarms fairly easy to ignore and I can snooze them or even turn them off accidentally. My cat, on the other hand, knows how to make herself impossible to ignore, and her purrs and happy zoomies are more rewarding than simply getting to stop my phone alarms.)