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Housing Inequality in America

Pets & Housing: It's "Ruff" - Introduction

In 2022, over 70% of U.S. households own a pet , which means that 7 in 10 families take their pets into consideration when moving, buying or renting a home, or otherwise arranging their living situations. The following pages will explore 3 topics surrounding housing and pet ownership—inequalities surrounding how a pet owner’s race and/or age affect their access to quality housing; emotional support animals and their hotly-contended place in the rental market; and homelessness and pet ownership.

A (white) husband in a suit and a (white) wife in a knee-length dress, a white picket fence, two kids (a boy and a girl), a cat, and a dog comprise the stereotypical image of suburbia, and while this image can (and should) be deconstructed and criticized for the unrealistic and often unattainable expectations it sets for the poor, people of color, and queer people, one oft-unrecognized element of this image is that of the pets. In 2022, over 70% of U.S. households own a pet, which means that seven in ten families take their pets into consideration when moving, buying or renting a home, or otherwise arranging their living situations.

The following pages explore three topics surrounding housing and pet ownership—inequalities surrounding how a pet owner’s race and/or age affect their access to quality housing; emotional support animals and their hotly-contended place in the rental market; and homelessness and pet ownership—using data from academic sources supplemented with videos from outside, public-facing sources in an effort to answer questions such as, “Does pet ownership affect a person’s ability to secure housing?,” “What demographic factors contribute to housing inequality and pet ownership?,” and “What are the consequences of pet ownership on the housing market and the individual?”

The above-mentioned foci of this project are not the only issues surrounding pets and housing, and this project is meant to provide a brief insight into the ways that (hu)man’s best friend factors into the basic need for stable shelter. Other points of conversation that this project does not address include pets in college campus housing, pets as travel companions, certified service animals in the home, and more. Further research into any one of these avenues would undoubtedly yield additional connections and threads worth exploring.

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1. Pets & Housing: It's "Ruff" - Introduction In 2022, over 70% of U.S. households own a pet , which means that 7 in 10 families take their pets into consideration when moving, buying or renting a home, or otherwise arranging their living situations. The following pages will explore 3 topics surrounding housing and pet ownership—inequalities surrounding how a pet owner’s race and/or age affect their access to quality housing; emotional support animals and their hotly-contended place in the rental market; and homelessness and pet ownership.
3. Emotional Support Animals & Mental Health “ESAs are protected by law, but critics argue the system is being exploited by pet owners without genuine mental health problems.” These opening lines from a 2019 report by the British newspaper The Guardian about the emotional support animal (ESA) “epidemic” in America succinctly summarizes the conflict at the center of a rising debate about the prevalence of mental illness among pet owners. This page explores the benefits that owning a pet can have for a person's mental health as well as the barriers pet ownership creates for finding housing for those with mental health problems.
4. Pets & Homelessness In the United States, over 552,000 people experience homelessness on any given night, and, of those, up to 25% own a pet. With the social benefits of pet ownership, people experiencing homelessness also face increased vulnerability: losing one’s pet prematurely to death or rehoming could lead to mental health crises, and pet ownership was often viewed as a barrier to health and social services, housing access, and employment opportunities.
5. Pets & Housing: It's "Ruff" - Conclusion Animals are a heavily integrated into human’s lives as companions, service animals (like guide dogs and medical assistance dogs), and more general assistance animals regardless of gender, race, socioeconomic class, or housing situation. What many people do not realize, unless they experience it firsthand, is the ways in which our relationship to pets can affect our access to housing opportunities.

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1. Pets & Homelessness In the United States, over 552,000 people experience homelessness on any given night, and, of those, up to 25% own a pet. With the social benefits of pet ownership, people experiencing homelessness also face increased vulnerability: losing one’s pet prematurely to death or rehoming could lead to mental health crises, and pet ownership was often viewed as a barrier to health and social services, housing access, and employment opportunities.
2. Pets & Housing: It's "Ruff" - Introduction In 2022, over 70% of U.S. households own a pet , which means that 7 in 10 families take their pets into consideration when moving, buying or renting a home, or otherwise arranging their living situations. The following pages will explore 3 topics surrounding housing and pet ownership—inequalities surrounding how a pet owner’s race and/or age affect their access to quality housing; emotional support animals and their hotly-contended place in the rental market; and homelessness and pet ownership.
3. Emotional Support Animals & Mental Health “ESAs are protected by law, but critics argue the system is being exploited by pet owners without genuine mental health problems.” These opening lines from a 2019 report by the British newspaper The Guardian about the emotional support animal (ESA) “epidemic” in America succinctly summarizes the conflict at the center of a rising debate about the prevalence of mental illness among pet owners. This page explores the benefits that owning a pet can have for a person's mental health as well as the barriers pet ownership creates for finding housing for those with mental health problems.
Contents of this tag:
4. Pets & Housing: It's "Ruff" - Introduction In 2022, over 70% of U.S. households own a pet , which means that 7 in 10 families take their pets into consideration when moving, buying or renting a home, or otherwise arranging their living situations. The following pages will explore 3 topics surrounding housing and pet ownership—inequalities surrounding how a pet owner’s race and/or age affect their access to quality housing; emotional support animals and their hotly-contended place in the rental market; and homelessness and pet ownership.
6. Emotional Support Animals & Mental Health “ESAs are protected by law, but critics argue the system is being exploited by pet owners without genuine mental health problems.” These opening lines from a 2019 report by the British newspaper The Guardian about the emotional support animal (ESA) “epidemic” in America succinctly summarizes the conflict at the center of a rising debate about the prevalence of mental illness among pet owners. This page explores the benefits that owning a pet can have for a person's mental health as well as the barriers pet ownership creates for finding housing for those with mental health problems.
Contents of this tag:
1. Pets & Housing: It's "Ruff" - Introduction In 2022, over 70% of U.S. households own a pet , which means that 7 in 10 families take their pets into consideration when moving, buying or renting a home, or otherwise arranging their living situations. The following pages will explore 3 topics surrounding housing and pet ownership—inequalities surrounding how a pet owner’s race and/or age affect their access to quality housing; emotional support animals and their hotly-contended place in the rental market; and homelessness and pet ownership.
2. Emotional Support Animals & Mental Health “ESAs are protected by law, but critics argue the system is being exploited by pet owners without genuine mental health problems.” These opening lines from a 2019 report by the British newspaper The Guardian about the emotional support animal (ESA) “epidemic” in America succinctly summarizes the conflict at the center of a rising debate about the prevalence of mental illness among pet owners. This page explores the benefits that owning a pet can have for a person's mental health as well as the barriers pet ownership creates for finding housing for those with mental health problems.
Contents of this tag:
2. Pets & Housing: It's "Ruff" - Introduction In 2022, over 70% of U.S. households own a pet , which means that 7 in 10 families take their pets into consideration when moving, buying or renting a home, or otherwise arranging their living situations. The following pages will explore 3 topics surrounding housing and pet ownership—inequalities surrounding how a pet owner’s race and/or age affect their access to quality housing; emotional support animals and their hotly-contended place in the rental market; and homelessness and pet ownership.
Contents of this tag:
3. Pets & Housing: It's "Ruff" - Introduction In 2022, over 70% of U.S. households own a pet , which means that 7 in 10 families take their pets into consideration when moving, buying or renting a home, or otherwise arranging their living situations. The following pages will explore 3 topics surrounding housing and pet ownership—inequalities surrounding how a pet owner’s race and/or age affect their access to quality housing; emotional support animals and their hotly-contended place in the rental market; and homelessness and pet ownership.
4. Pets & Homelessness In the United States, over 552,000 people experience homelessness on any given night, and, of those, up to 25% own a pet. With the social benefits of pet ownership, people experiencing homelessness also face increased vulnerability: losing one’s pet prematurely to death or rehoming could lead to mental health crises, and pet ownership was often viewed as a barrier to health and social services, housing access, and employment opportunities.
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III Pet Ownership Stats 22
Snarky Annotation 1
KC: Class Pets Collage A collage of pets: first row L to R a brown tabby cat laying down, a black cat laying down, and a black and brown dog wearing a T Rex costume; middle row, L to R: a white and gray dog, aand long-haired black cat lating on its back; bottom row, L to R: a tortoiseshell cat laying on a book, a tortoiseshell kitten whose face is close to the camera, and a brown tabby cat wearing a birthday hat with a number 5 candle sitting in a bowl of food