Los Angeles, Keep Pets and Families Together!

L.A. Housing Dept.’s Proposed Language to Evict Pets

ASPCA Position: Oppose

Update—October 6, 2022: Great news! Last week, Los Angeles city councilmembers voted to extend an emergency order that has been protecting Los Angeles renters who acquired pets during the pandemic. This small victory will protect families from eviction through February 2024!'

While we celebrate the decision to give new pet owners more time to plan for their family’s housing needs, we know that options for pet-friendly housing are scarce for renters. For this reason, we will continue pushing the city council to adopt permanent protections for renters with pets.

Learn More

If we don’t act, countless Los Angeles residents may find themselves having to make a heartbreaking decision: give up their beloved family pet or lose their home.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, the Los Angeles City Council enacted an emergency order that protected tenants who acquired pets, even if a tenant’s lease explicitly prohibited owning animals. Recently, the Los Angeles Department of Housing recommended that the city council reverse these protections, which could leave families with pets open to eviction or homelessness. Furthermore, if the city council were to proceed with this recommendation, L.A.’s overcrowded and understaffed animal shelters will be flooded with animals who could have, and should have, remained in loving homes.

What You Can Do

For now, renters are protected but that could change. Please use our form below to thank your councilmembers for extending the eviction moratorium and urge them to permanently allow companion animals acquired during the pandemic to reside in their current dwelling for the duration of the pet’s life or for the duration of the current tenant’s occupancy.

Advocacy Alert

Your Message

Subject Thanks for Extending Protections for LA’s People and Pets

Dear Honorable Councilmember,

Message

As a resident of Los Angeles, I want to thank you for extending COVID-19 eviction protections for local families who have acquired pets. This important protection has provided families with emotional support and companionship during these extraordinary times, saved countless animal lives and provided relief to our city’s overwhelmed animal shelters.

While this extension through February 2024 is an important step in the right direction, we ask that you please consider making these protections permanent for LA’s families with pets.

Currently, our animal shelters are experiencing substantial overcrowding and a lack of staff and resources. Reversing this eviction protection could have disastrous consequences for our city’s shelters and pets. Furthermore, if this protection is not permanently enacted – it would break apart families who could now face eviction and homelessness due to a lack of pet-friendly housing.

To avoid these consequences, the council should instead enact permanent protections that allow tenants to keep companion animals they acquired during the pandemic in their current dwelling for the duration of the pet’s life, or for as long as the tenant is living in their current home.

Those who are willing and able to care for their pet should not be faced with the impossible decision of relinquishing their beloved animal due to a lack of housing options. Many families that adopted animals throughout the pandemic have relied on their pets for emotional support and companionship throughout these extraordinary times. Dogs and cats that have been adopted during the hardship of the pandemic should be granted protections as emotional support animals for the families that care for them.

Thank you for your time and consideration of my position.

Sincerely,

[First Name] [Last Name]
[Your Address]

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