No Training Required: The Availability of Emotional Support Animals as a Component of Equal Access for the Psychiatrically Disabled under the Fair Housing Act

Abstract

This article briefly describes the purpose and passage of the Fair Housing Act and the Fair Housing Act Amendments of 1988. This article then explain the framework of federal disability rights laws and the standard upon which requests for reasonable accommodations are evaluated. This article then tracks the divergence between the ADA and FHA in evaluating these claims, the misapplication of ADA standards to claims under the FHAA, and the proposed and final regulations promulgated in 2008. This article will conclude that there is a growing consensus that emotional support animals are available as reasonable accommodations under the Fair Housing Act.

Keywords: animal, emotional support, service animal, service dog, assistance animal, emotional support animal, fair housing act, reasonable accommodation, Americans with Disabilities Act, discrimination, civil rights, disability, mental disability, anxiety, depression