Pet restrictions in rental housing create a welfare crisis for companion animals whose owners face impossible choices between keeping their pets and maintaining housing, driving surrender and homelessness for both people and animals.
Rental housing pet restrictions cause welfare harm through a mechanism that is structural and systemic rather than individual. A person who loses housing due to pet-unfriendly policies may be forced to surrender a companion animal to a shelter, where that animal experiences stress and potential euthanasia. The companion animal has done nothing to deserve this outcome; the welfare harm is caused by housing policy. Advocacy for pet-inclusive rental housing is simultaneously an animal welfare issue, a housing justice issue, and a human mental health issue — the social support animals provide to their owners, particularly those in economically precarious situations, is well-documented.