Accommodating Animals: NEW HUD Guidance

2020 HUD Guidance & Other Reasonable Accommodation Compliance Issues Involving Disability-Related Animals

The industry has been clamoring for clarity and guidance from HUD for years and is finally here!

Early this year the Dept. of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) issued a public memo offering guidance on animals as a reasonable accommodation, on emotional support animals, and on online verification vendors.This info-packed session is geared specifically toward seasoned apartment managers who understand the basics of reasonable accommodations and modifications.

During the webinar expert speaker, Jo Becker will go beyond the basics to demystify the differences between service animals, assistance animals, pets, and other critter sub-classifications. She will also discuss in detail, HUD’s 19-page memo issued on January 28th and the guidance it provides.  She’ll also look briefly at two earlier announcements – one from HUD on January 22nd, and another from the Dept. of Transportation late last year.

Webinar Objectives

• Assistance animals as an accommodation:
  • The differences between “pets,” “service animals,” “assistance animals,” “companion animals,” “emotional support animals,” etc.
  • What’s okay vs. no-no’s regarding fees, deposits, animal rent, damage charges, etc.
• In addition to this background and review, we’ll do a thorough walk through of HUD’s newly released guidance specific to animal accommodations in housing and online verifiers!
• Finally, will wrap with:
  • Some tips on realistic expectations for disability-related aid animals (i.e., their behavior), 
  • Proper etiquette around working animals (i.e., your behavior), and 
  • Finally some pointers on maintaining personal life safety around residents’ animals (regardless of whether they are pets or disability-related animals).

Webinar Agenda

•    Realistic expectations for disability-related aid animals 
•    Proper etiquette for you and your staff around working animals, and 
•    Finally pointers on maintaining personal life safety around residents’ animals.
•    Animal accommodations are an area of fair housing law that has been confusing for everyone!  Join in to get clarity on:
•    Terminology – "What is a ‘service animal?’  How’s that different from an ‘assistance animal?’  Do we have to accommodate ‘companion animals?’”
•    Best practices – “How do we go about verifying a requested accommodation?  What questions can we ask?  What can’t we ask?”
•    Who can act as a verifier – “And, oh BTW, do we have to accept online verification vendors as legit?”

Webinar Highlights

•    Review current assistance animal accommodation policies and practices for compliance
•    Craft or revise policies and rules based on official guidance and specific language offered by HUD
•    Respond to accommodation requests promptly and appropriately
•    Recognize the differences (and legal distinctions) between service animals, assistance animals, pets, and other critter sub-classifications such as emotional support animals
•    Appreciate what you should realistically expect from disability-related aid animals 
•    Ponder the importance of proper etiquette when you and yours staff encounter working animals
•    Learn body language cues that can help you avoid attack and de-escalate potentially dangerous encounters with residents animals, whether they’re pets or aid animals

Who Should Attend

•    Leasing managers
•    On-site managers
•    Portfolio managers
•    Compliance officers
•    Resident services coordinators (in affordable housing communities)
•    Maintenance and service technicians
•    Community concierges (in high-end housing communities)
•    Independent landlords or small operators