Animal Welfare Professionals

Housing is an animal welfare issue. We all kind of know this. But I don't think most of us have looked at the numbers closely enough to understand the scale.

PIHI (Pet-Inclusive Housing Initiative) published data showing that 74.7% of pet-owning renters cause zero property damage. Of the remaining 25%, 88% of that damage is under $250. We are talking about a problem that largely does not exist in the way landlords think it does.

Meanwhile, when renters with pets can't find housing, 22.7% rehome their animal and 14% hide their pet entirely (which creates its own set of welfare risks). Another 23.4% declare an ESA, which is often just a workaround for restrictive policies, not a reflection of actual disability accommodation needs. That ESA loophole frustrates landlords and makes things worse for people who genuinely need service or support animals.

Here is what we are doing about it at Animal-Angels Foundation. We built a Pet Resume system through our AWRN (Animal Welfare Resource Network). Instead of breed labels, which tell you almost nothing useful about an individual animal, the resume gives landlords verified data: behavior profile, training history, health records, and rental track record. We pair that with an Anti-Damage Prevention Kit during onboarding and ongoing Bridge support if a housing crisis hits.

The pitch to landlords is simple. Pet-inclusive properties see 80% renewal rates and 70% occupancy compared to market averages. In a market with 6.9% vacancy rates nationally and 37% of properties offering concessions, that is a real competitive edge. And when you reduce ESA workarounds by just being inclusive from the start, you reduce the friction that drives landlords to ban pets in the first place.

The harder question for our field: how many of us have a housing intervention in our prevention toolkit? We talk about behavior support, spay/neuter access, food assistance. Those matter. But if a family loses their apartment over a pet deposit or a breed restriction, none of that other work matters because the animal still ends up in a shelter.

We are still early in testing this with landlords in our seven-county service area. I don't have outcome data to share yet. But the research is solid, and the gap in our field is real.

Who else is working on the housing side of this? I would love to know what is working, what is not, and where you are getting pushback from property managers.

#PetSupportServices*

------------------------------
BJ Adkins
Founder/Director
Animal-Angels Foundation
Pinson, AL
bjadkins@animal-angels.org
animal-angelsfoundation.org
------------------------------

This is such great and helpful data and important work, thank you!

I'm very interested to hear how landlords react. I'm sure some will be reasonable and open - I hope so! A lot of these housing policies are also masks for racism/classism, and I fear not everyone will be swayed with data and solutions, because it's not really about the dogs, but who is perceived to own them. Running an organization focused on pit bull-type dogs, I hear a lot about how breed discrimination in housing has become a legal form of redlining.

EVERYONE deserves the love of an animal and to be able to keep their furry family members, regardless of how much money they make. The NY governor just vetoed a bill that would have prohibited renters insurance companies to discriminate based on breed - even though a law like that already exists for homeowners! So essentially, denying folks who rent rather than own the same rights. It's infuriating and complicated.

So glad to learn about another organization pushing back with facts, concrete solutions, and a commitment to keeping pets with their people. Thank you and looking forward to learning more!

------------------------------
Katy Herman
President
The Hansel Foundation
IL
------------------------------

------------------------------
BJ Adkins
Founder/Director
Animal-Angels Foundation
Pinson, AL
bjadkins@animal-angels.org
animal-angelsfoundation.org
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 04-06-2026 07:45 AM
From: Katy Herman
Subject: The housing question we keep talking about

This is such great and helpful data and important work, thank you!

I'm very interested to hear how landlords react. I'm sure some will be reasonable and open - I hope so! A lot of these housing policies are also masks for racism/classism, and I fear not everyone will be swayed with data and solutions, because it's not really about the dogs, but who is perceived to own them. Running an organization focused on pit bull-type dogs, I hear a lot about how breed discrimination in housing has become a legal form of redlining.

EVERYONE deserves the love of an animal and to be able to keep their furry family members, regardless of how much money they make. The NY governor just vetoed a bill that would have prohibited renters insurance companies to discriminate based on breed - even though a law like that already exists for homeowners! So essentially, denying folks who rent rather than own the same rights. It's infuriating and complicated.

So glad to learn about another organization pushing back with facts, concrete solutions, and a commitment to keeping pets with their people. Thank you and looking forward to learning more!

------------------------------
Katy Herman
President
The Hansel Foundation
IL
------------------------------

Thank you so much! Just put some time on your cal for a call this week. We are very focused on funding upstream work as well, and our grants are split about 50/50 between rescue and shelter diversion.

------------------------------
Katy Herman
President
The Hansel Foundation
IL
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 04-06-2026 08:02 AM
From: Bj Adkins
Subject: The housing question we keep talking about

Katy, thank you for this. Everything you said is exactly why we built the Pet Resume into our model. When a landlord sees "pit bull mix" on a breed restriction list, the conversation is over before it starts. But when they see a verified behavior profile, training history, health records, and rental history with zero damage, that changes the math. We are trying to replace the label with real data, because the label was never about the dog.

You nailed the housing piece. The Hochul veto in December was a gut punch. Homeowners got breed-neutral insurance protections in 2022, and renters got told to wait. That is not about risk. That is about who rents and who owns, and we both know what that really means.

We work with PIHI (Pet-Inclusive Housing Initiative) data that backs up what you already know. 74.7% of pet-owning renters cause zero property damage. Of the ones who do, 88% is under $250. The business case for pet-inclusive housing is airtight. The resistance is not about data. It is about the biases you described, and breed restrictions are the most socially acceptable way to enforce them.

I would love to connect with you directly. The Hansel Foundation's grant work for pit bull rescues is doing critical downstream work, and what we are building upstream with prevention and housing partnerships could feed into each other. If a family with a pit bull-type dog is about to lose housing and surrender their pet, we want to catch that before the shelter ever sees it.

Here is our Shift to Prevention guide if you want to see the full model: The Shift to Prevention Guide. And I am always available at angels@animal-angels.org or calendly.com/animal-angels if you want to talk.

We keep families together. All of them.

------------------------------
BJ Adkins
Founder/Director
Animal-Angels Foundation
Pinson, AL
bjadkins@animal-angels.org
animal-angelsfoundation.org
------------------------------


Original Message:
Sent: 04-06-2026 07:45 AM
From: Katy Herman
Subject: The housing question we keep talking about

This is such great and helpful data and important work, thank you!

I'm very interested to hear how landlords react. I'm sure some will be reasonable and open - I hope so! A lot of these housing policies are also masks for racism/classism, and I fear not everyone will be swayed with data and solutions, because it's not really about the dogs, but who is perceived to own them. Running an organization focused on pit bull-type dogs, I hear a lot about how breed discrimination in housing has become a legal form of redlining.

EVERYONE deserves the love of an animal and to be able to keep their furry family members, regardless of how much money they make. The NY governor just vetoed a bill that would have prohibited renters insurance companies to discriminate based on breed - even though a law like that already exists for homeowners! So essentially, denying folks who rent rather than own the same rights. It's infuriating and complicated.

So glad to learn about another organization pushing back with facts, concrete solutions, and a commitment to keeping pets with their people. Thank you and looking forward to learning more!

------------------------------
Katy Herman
President
The Hansel Foundation
IL

This is a great conversation about the need for more pet-inclusive housing! At Pet-Inclusive Housing, we provide data, research,  reports, resources, and actionable tools that illuminate the path to more pet-inclusive rental housing.

You can access all of our reports, including our Pets & Housing Data 2025 Edition and 2021 Pet-Inclusive Housing Report, at petsandhousing.org/pet-inclusive-housing-reports/.

All of our free resources for animal welfare organizations, pet owners, and housing providers are available at petsandhousing.org. 

Please feel free to utilize and share our free reports and resources - we only ask that you cite us 😉

------------------------------
Sara Maria Muriello
Senior Program Manager
Pet-Inclusive Housing Initiative, Michelson Found Animals
------------------------------

Sara, thank you for jumping in. We are already putting your reports and resources to work. Your 2025 data is in our landlord partnership materials, our leave-behinds, and our website. We have a follow-up call on the books later this month and I am looking forward to it.

For anyone else reading this thread, the PIHI resources are the real deal. If you are doing any kind of housing work in animal welfare, start at petsandhousing.org. The data answers the questions that landlords actually ask.

------------------------------
BJ Adkins
Founder/Director
Animal-Angels Foundation
Pinson, AL
bjadkins@animal-angels.org
animal-angelsfoundation.org
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 04-06-2026 09:21 AM
From: Sara Maria Muriello
Subject: The housing question we keep talking about

This is a great conversation about the need for more pet-inclusive housing! At Pet-Inclusive Housing, we provide data, research,  reports, resources, and actionable tools that illuminate the path to more pet-inclusive rental housing.

You can access all of our reports, including our Pets & Housing Data 2025 Edition and 2021 Pet-Inclusive Housing Report, at petsandhousing.org/pet-inclusive-housing-reports/.

All of our free resources for animal welfare organizations, pet owners, and housing providers are available at petsandhousing.org. 

Please feel free to utilize and share our free reports and resources - we only ask that you cite us 😉

------------------------------
Sara Maria Muriello
Senior Program Manager
Pet-Inclusive Housing Initiative, Michelson Found Animals
------------------------------

Thank you for your post, Ms. Adkins. This is a very important and pertinent topic.

As you identified, the Pet-Inclusive Housing Initiative (PIHI) is a major player in this area, and they have many partners across the country. You may have seen they have developed information specifically for housing managers: Housing Provider Resources | Pet-Inclusive Housing Initiative. 

PIHI and the non-profit Home to Home recently published a report with new data, insights, and approaches to housing barriers driving pet relinquishment: Housing Instability & Pet Rehoming A Collaborative Analysis | PDF to Flipbook.

You could reach out to PIHI directly; we (the Center for Pet Family Well-Being at the University of Tennessee) did this as we were preparing a grant application related to pets and housing, and they were very helpful. (edit: I see that Sara already responded)

Here are some other organizations that I have seen post recently about their work on pet-inclusive housing:
- Pet-Friendly Housing for Big Dogs | Best Friends Animal Society
- Removing Barriers to Pets in Housing | ASPCA- 
- https://www.seattlehumane.org/2024/10/10/a-case-for-more-pet-inclusive-housing-2/ 
- Action for Pet-Inclusive Housing: Keeping Families Together • MSPCA-Angell
- https://www.heartla.org/ 
- https://www.mydogismyhome.org/ (while they mostly focus on access to shelter for unhoused individuals and their pets, their latest conference last month also covered housing insecurity more broadly, especially for people with pets)
- https://www.linkedin.com/posts/human-animal-bond-research-initiative-habri-_we-are-thrilled-to-announce-the-launch-of-activity-7397011283541393408--lz6?
- habri.org 

I hope this is helpful. I am sure there are others on this forum with more information.

------------------------------
Claire Schuch, PhD
Associate Director for Research
Program for Pet Health Equity
University of Tennessee, Knoxville
------------------------------

My Pit Bull Is Family in MN is also fantastic! https://www.mypitbullisfamily.org/

------------------------------
Katy Herman
President
The Hansel Foundation
IL
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 04-06-2026 10:59 AM
From: Claire Schuch
Subject: The housing question we keep talking about

Thank you for your post, Ms. Adkins. This is a very important and pertinent topic.

As you identified, the Pet-Inclusive Housing Initiative (PIHI) is a major player in this area, and they have many partners across the country. You may have seen they have developed information specifically for housing managers: Housing Provider Resources | Pet-Inclusive Housing Initiative. 

PIHI and the non-profit Home to Home recently published a report with new data, insights, and approaches to housing barriers driving pet relinquishment: Housing Instability & Pet Rehoming A Collaborative Analysis | PDF to Flipbook.

You could reach out to PIHI directly; we (the Center for Pet Family Well-Being at the University of Tennessee) did this as we were preparing a grant application related to pets and housing, and they were very helpful. (edit: I see that Sara already responded)

Here are some other organizations that I have seen post recently about their work on pet-inclusive housing:
- Pet-Friendly Housing for Big Dogs | Best Friends Animal Society
- Removing Barriers to Pets in Housing | ASPCA- 
- https://www.seattlehumane.org/2024/10/10/a-case-for-more-pet-inclusive-housing-2/ 
- Action for Pet-Inclusive Housing: Keeping Families Together • MSPCA-Angell
- https://www.heartla.org/ 
- https://www.mydogismyhome.org/ (while they mostly focus on access to shelter for unhoused individuals and their pets, their latest conference last month also covered housing insecurity more broadly, especially for people with pets)
- https://www.linkedin.com/posts/human-animal-bond-research-initiative-habri-_we-are-thrilled-to-announce-the-launch-of-activity-7397011283541393408--lz6?
- habri.org 

I hope this is helpful. I am sure there are others on this forum with more information.

------------------------------
Claire Schuch, PhD
Associate Director for Research
Program for Pet Health Equity
University of Tennessee, Knoxville
------------------------------

------------------------------
BJ Adkins
Founder/Director
Animal-Angels Foundation
Pinson, AL
bjadkins@animal-angels.org
animal-angelsfoundation.org
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 04-06-2026 10:59 AM
From: Claire Schuch
Subject: The housing question we keep talking about

Thank you for your post, Ms. Adkins. This is a very important and pertinent topic.

As you identified, the Pet-Inclusive Housing Initiative (PIHI) is a major player in this area, and they have many partners across the country. You may have seen they have developed information specifically for housing managers: Housing Provider Resources | Pet-Inclusive Housing Initiative. 

PIHI and the non-profit Home to Home recently published a report with new data, insights, and approaches to housing barriers driving pet relinquishment: Housing Instability & Pet Rehoming A Collaborative Analysis | PDF to Flipbook.

You could reach out to PIHI directly; we (the Center for Pet Family Well-Being at the University of Tennessee) did this as we were preparing a grant application related to pets and housing, and they were very helpful. (edit: I see that Sara already responded)

Here are some other organizations that I have seen post recently about their work on pet-inclusive housing:
- Pet-Friendly Housing for Big Dogs | Best Friends Animal Society
- Removing Barriers to Pets in Housing | ASPCA- 
- https://www.seattlehumane.org/2024/10/10/a-case-for-more-pet-inclusive-housing-2/ 
- Action for Pet-Inclusive Housing: Keeping Families Together • MSPCA-Angell
- https://www.heartla.org/ 
- https://www.mydogismyhome.org/ (while they mostly focus on access to shelter for unhoused individuals and their pets, their latest conference last month also covered housing insecurity more broadly, especially for people with pets)
- https://www.linkedin.com/posts/human-animal-bond-research-initiative-habri-_we-are-thrilled-to-announce-the-launch-of-activity-7397011283541393408--lz6?
- habri.org 

I hope this is helpful. I am sure there are others on this forum with more information.

------------------------------
Claire Schuch, PhD
Associate Director for Research
Program for Pet Health Equity
University of Tennessee, Knoxville
------------------------------

Thank you. We would love to meet with you and learn more about your work. I will sign up on your Calendly.

------------------------------
Claire Schuch, PhD
Associate Director for Research
Center for Pet Family Well-Being (formerly Program for Pet Health Equity)
University of Tennessee, Knoxville
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 04-06-2026 12:09 PM
From: Bj Adkins
Subject: The housing question we keep talking about

Dr. Schuch, thank you for this. The resources you shared are gold, especially the PIHI and Home to Home collaborative analysis. We work closely with PIHI data already (Sara Muriello and Ross Barker have been generous with their time, and we have a follow-up call scheduled later this month), so it is good to know that report exists. I will dig into it.

The Center for Pet Family Well-Being is doing exactly the kind of research that makes prevention work credible at the policy level. We built our landlord partnership model on PIHI's numbers (74.7% zero damage, 80% renewal rates, 88% of damage under $250), and having academic research behind the practice changes how decision-makers listen.

What we are building with the Animal Welfare Resource Network (AWRN) connects directly to several of the organizations you listed. Best Friends, ASPCA, MSPCA-Angell, My Dog Is My Home (we have a call with Shoshana Mostoller later this month as well), and Seattle Humane are all doing pieces of the housing puzzle. Our platform is designed to connect those pieces into a shared prevention network so that when a family calls for help, the system can match them to the right resource before surrender becomes the only option.

I would love to connect with you directly. If your center is working on grants related to pets and housing, our field data from seven counties in Central Alabama could be a useful complement to your research. We are tracking intake reasons, housing barriers, intervention outcomes, and diversion rates at the case level. That kind of ground-level data paired with your academic framework could make for a strong collaboration.

Here is our Shift to Prevention guide if you want to see the full model: The Shift to Prevention Guide. And I am always available at angels@animal-angels.org or calendly.com/animal-angels.

Prevention is the missing piece.

------------------------------
BJ Adkins
Founder/Director
Animal-Angels Foundation
Pinson, AL
bjadkins@animal-angels.org
animal-angelsfoundation.org
------------------------------


Original Message:
Sent: 04-06-2026 10:59 AM
From: Claire Schuch
Subject: The housing question we keep talking about

Thank you for your post, Ms. Adkins. This is a very important and pertinent topic.

As you identified, the Pet-Inclusive Housing Initiative (PIHI) is a major player in this area, and they have many partners across the country. You may have seen they have developed information specifically for housing managers: Housing Provider Resources | Pet-Inclusive Housing Initiative. 

PIHI and the non-profit Home to Home recently published a report with new data, insights, and approaches to housing barriers driving pet relinquishment: Housing Instability & Pet Rehoming A Collaborative Analysis | PDF to Flipbook.

You could reach out to PIHI directly; we (the Center for Pet Family Well-Being at the University of Tennessee) did this as we were preparing a grant application related to pets and housing, and they were very helpful. (edit: I see that Sara already responded)

Here are some other organizations that I have seen post recently about their work on pet-inclusive housing:
- Pet-Friendly Housing for Big Dogs | Best Friends Animal Society
- Removing Barriers to Pets in Housing | ASPCA- 
- https://www.seattlehumane.org/2024/10/10/a-case-for-more-pet-inclusive-housing-2/ 
- Action for Pet-Inclusive Housing: Keeping Families Together • MSPCA-Angell
- https://www.heartla.org/ 
- https://www.mydogismyhome.org/ (while they mostly focus on access to shelter for unhoused individuals and their pets, their latest conference last month also covered housing insecurity more broadly, especially for people with pets)
- https://www.linkedin.com/posts/human-animal-bond-research-initiative-habri-_we-are-thrilled-to-announce-the-launch-of-activity-7397011283541393408--lz6?
- habri.org 

I hope this is helpful. I am sure there are others on this forum with more information.

------------------------------
Claire Schuch, PhD
Associate Director for Research
Program for Pet Health Equity
University of Tennessee, Knoxville

Really interesting to hear about the pet resume system you're testing! Have you found that landlords are more open once they see verified behavior/health info instead of just breed labels? Curious to follow your results.

------------------------------
Rose mauve
无
无
------------------------------

Yes, that's exactly what we're seeing in early conversations. When you replace "pit bull mix" with "4-year-old dog, completed basic obedience, no damage history in two previous rentals, current on all vaccinations, $0 in documented property damage," the conversation changes completely.

The data backs it up too. PIHI research shows 74.7% of pet-owning renters cause zero property damage, and of the ones who do, 88% is under $250. Breed labels tell a landlord nothing about how an animal actually behaves in a rental. A verified profile with real behavior data, training records, and rental history gives them something they can underwrite.

We're building the Pet Resume into our AWRN platform so any partner in the network can generate one from verified records instead of relying on self-reported information. The landlord gets real data. The family gets past the breed restriction. The pet stays home.

Still early, but the landlords we've talked to respond to numbers a lot faster than they respond to "please give my dog a chance."

------------------------------
BJ Adkins
Founder/Director
Animal-Angels Foundation
Pinson, AL
bjadkins@animal-angels.org
animal-angelsfoundation.org
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 04-07-2026 08:18 PM
From: Rose mauve
Subject: The housing question we keep talking about

Really interesting to hear about the pet resume system you're testing! Have you found that landlords are more open once they see verified behavior/health info instead of just breed labels? Curious to follow your results.

------------------------------
Rose mauve
无
无
------------------------------