Fair Housing Month continued to inform attendees with its second webinar on April 10. Terry Kitay, Shareholder with Baker, Donelson, Bearman, Caldwell & Berkowitz presented the session “To Verify or Not: Emotional Support Animals and Other Unique Requests.” During the session, Kitay dove into specific areas of HUD's 2020 guidance on animals in rental housing and what that means for working onsite.
Kitay began by offering a reminder that, under fair housing law, housing providers are required to make changes in rules or policy if the change is necessary to allow a person with a disability full use and enjoyment of the housing. From there, Kitay noted the difference between service animals – those trained to perform a task for those with a disability – and support animals, those not specifically trained. Kitay called out that both service and support animals can be viewed as reasonable accommodations under the Fair Housing Act.
After clarifying the definitions of each type of animal, Kitay then explained the process for reviewing requests for each. Requests for service animals are typically straightforward: It is generally clear what the animal is trained to do, the training level of the animal is easily observable and there are species limitations. Requests for emotional support animals are more complicated, in that they can be a number of animal types, are not required to be trained to do anything specific, and the disability related need for the animal is not always readily observable.
Kitay offered information on how to verify the need for a support animal, including what questions can and cannot be asked, in the webinar.
Register for the final Fair Housing Month webinar about website accessibility on April 24.