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Housing Inequality in America

Pets & Housing: Works Cited

2017-2018 Edition AVMA Pet Ownership and Demographics Sourcebook (American Veterinary Medical Association, 2018), 17, https://ebusiness.avma.org/Files/ProductDownloads/2019%20ECO-PetDemoUpdateErrataFINAL-20190501.pdf

“Assistance Animals,” U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, accessed 22 November 2022, https://www.hud.gov/program_offices/fair_housing_equal_opp/assistance_animals

Channel 4 News, “Dogs on the streets: how four-legged friends help the homeless,” 20 December 2017, video, 7:12, https://youtu.be/RUaEDuxAVhY
CNBC Television, “Pets' needs influencing millennial housing choices,” 31 August 2018, video, 1:50, https://youtu.be/L1_l10-eJmA

Daniel Rose, Courtney McMillan, and Onneya Carter, “Pet-Friendly Rental Housing: Racial and Spatial Inequalities,” Space and Culture (2020): 3, accessed 22 November 2022, https://doi.org/10.1177/1206331220956539

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Farah Stockman. “People Are Taking Emotional Support Animals Everywhere. States Are Cracking Down,” New York Times (New York City, NY) 18 June 2019, https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/18/us/emotional-support-animal.html#:~:text=In%202011%2C%20the%20National%20Service,the%20number%20is%20nearly%20200%2C000

Harmony Rhoades, Hailey Winetrobe, and Eric Rice, “Pet Ownership Among Homeless Youth: Associations with Mental Health, Service Utilization and Housing Status,” Child Psychiatry and Human Development, vol. 46 (2015): 240, https://doi.org/10.1007/s10578-014-0463-5

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The Guardian, “Emotional support animals: has America's 'epidemic' gone too far?,” 26 June 2019, video, 14:31, https://youtu.be/NGJLRkZzKbM

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The Root, “The Complex Relationship Between Black People and Pets,” 28 February 2021, video, 2:36, https://youtu.be/TeSFelfAr_U

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Contents of this path:
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.