Earlier this year, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) provided new guidelines to help explain certain obligations of housing providers under the Fair Housing Act (FHA) with respect to animals that individuals with disabilities may request as reasonable accommodations. While this issue has caused much confusion for landlords and property managers, these guidelines will assist in creating a set of best practices for complying with the FHA when making these assessments and to avoid violations.
There are two types of assistance animals: (1) service animals, and (2) other trained or untrained animals that do work, perform tasks, provide assistance, and/or provide therapeutic emotional support for individuals with disabilities (referred to in the guidance as a “support animal”). Persons with disabilities may request a reasonable accommodation for service animals and other types of assistance animals, including support animals, under the FHA.
This guidance provides housing providers with a set of best practices for complying with the FHA when assessing requests for reasonable accommodations to keep animals in housing, including the information that a housing provider may need to know from a healthcare professional about an individual’s need for an assistance animal in housing.
By providing greater clarity through this guidance, HUD seeks to provide housing providers with a tool they may use to reduce burdens that they may face when they are uncertain about the type and amount of documentation they may need and may be permitted to request when an individual seeks to keep a support animal in housing.
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