Care Corner: Finding Affordable Pet-friendly Housing

Securing affordable housing can be stressful, and many low-income pet parents may experience an added layer of anxiety because that reasonably priced place to live also needs to accommodate their pets.

Why It’s Important

Having stable, safe, and affordable housing is important to the quality of life of so many people and their pets. And being able to identify pet-friendly housing options can be critical for making sure the fur family can stay together. 

Here are 5 ways to help make the process of finding pet-friendly housing go more smoothly:

1. Give yourself enough time to search for the right apartment. If you’re not renewing your lease and need to find a new place to live, start looking for a place that can accommodate you and your pets as far in advance as you can.
   
2. ​If you are working with a real estate agent, make sure they know as soon as possible that you need housing that accepts pets, so they can do a lot of the leg work for you!
3. Use search-limiting options when looking at housing options online (many Internet resources let you limit searches so only housing options that allow pets populate).
4. If you are eligible for public housing, be mindful of the fact that the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) requires public housing authorities (PHAs) to allow common household pets and assistance animals. A good first step is to check with the public housing authority that you are interested in to confirm that they allow pets and your pet falls within their accepted definition of a permitted common household pet. While HUD doesn’t define common household pets and allows PHAs to develop their own reasonable restrictions, it notes that many PHAs have defined them to include a dog, cat, bird, rodent (such as a rabbit), and a turtle.
   
5. Search for hotels and motels that allow pets if you’re transitioning from one place to another and need a temporary place to stay.

Check Out These Resources

​Visit our Care Corner web page for resources that will make your search for low-income pet-friendly housing just a little easier.

What You Can Do To Help

Phinney’s believes in keeping people and their beloved pets together. We do this by extending a helping hand to pet parents in need when these emergency vet visits become too costly for some to afford. Ways you can help include donating to Phinney’s or volunteering.  And, anyone in need of help in caring for their pets can visit our Get Help page for more information.