Trump's HUD moves to limit assistance animals for disabled tenants

[New Breed Leader]

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In the first Trump administration, HUD issued guidance to landlords reinforcing that emotional support animals and other assistance animals were not considered pets, and were protected by the Fair Housing Act. Officials noted that emotional support animals provided “therapeutic emotional support” for people with disabilities.

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.”