HUD attacks disabled persons with pets in subsidized housing

HUD attacks disabled persons with pets in subsidized housing

Persons with disabilities in HUD subsidized housing are under attack

By Lynda Carson - May 23, 2026

Oakland, CA - During the past week, it feels like the convicted felon Trump administration has has taken our nation through a week in hell. That’s right. It appears that the convicted felon President Trump believes that we were born to suffer for his pleasure, as he takes us all for a terrifying ride on, The Long Road Out Of Eden.

HUD attacks disabled persons with pets in subsidized housing.

Across the nation, there are tens of thousands persons with disabilities, including seniors, veterans, and families residing in HUD subsidized housing projects with their “assistance animals.” This includes Housing Choice Voucher tenants, Project Based Housing tenants, and public housing tenants, and their beloved “assistance animals.”

HUD Secretary Scott Turner of the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) is no friend of the poor residing in HUD’s subsidized housing programs. As a right-wing Christian Nationalist, HUD Secretary Scott Turner openly promotes religious coercion on HUD’s website to push his religious beliefs on others.

Additionally, Scott Turner supports the convicted felon President Trump’s major budget cut proposals to HUD’s subsidized housing programs, in addition to his vicious attacks on the ‘fair housing laws’, including his attacks on immigrants legally residing in HUD subsidized housing, and his attacks on the LGBTQ plus community. Now HUD Secretary Scott Turner has viciously targeted the ‘assistance animals’ for HUD’s subsidized housing tenants that have disabilities.

According to one person who is very disturbed by the latest attack on the ‘assistance animals’ or ‘emotional support animals’ for those with disabilities, in a posting he wrote, “As one of those disabled people living in HUD subsidized housing, with an ESA that is over the weight limit by the building's pet policy I'm pretty fucking terrified. I will go start the bog witch chapter of my life before I give up my dog.”

HUD Moves to Limit Assistance Animals for Disabled Tenants

Reportedly, in a May 22, 2026, New York Times article called ‘HUD Moves to Limit Assistance Animals for Disabled Tenants’, in part it says, “The Trump administration on Friday narrowed the definition of an “assistance animal” allowed to live with disabled tenants in housing, a move that could lead to thousands of animals and their owners being evicted.

In an internal memo obtained by The New York Times, the Department of Housing and Urban Development told leaders in its fair housing office that “effective immediately” the department would exclude emotional support animals and more strictly police the definition of a qualified service animal when granting accommodations for disabled tenants.

Many landlords enforce a no-pets policy, or may charge renters a deposit or monthly fee for pets. Under the Fair Housing Act, disabled tenants can ask to have those restrictions waived to accommodate their disabilities.

In the first Trump administration, HUD issued guidance to landlords reinforcing that emotional support animals and other assistance animals were not considered pets, and were protected by the Fair Housing Act. Officials noted that emotional support animals provided “therapeutic emotional support” for people with disabilities.

Six years later, the housing department, under the leadership of Scott Turner, has moved aggressively to tighten rules and scrutinize public housing rolls, including by focusing on the immigration status of tenants.

The memo to housing officials on assistance animals presented emotional support animals as a loophole to circumvent a landlord’s pet policies, asserting that “an entire industry has emerged to convert pets into emotional support animals.”

The memo concluded that “while requests to waive pet policies for animals trained to perform specific disability related services are presumptively reasonable, requests to waive pet policies for untrained” emotional support animals “are not.”

Erik Heins, a lawyer formerly in charge of enforcing fair housing laws at HUD, said that the new policy would affect many tenants who rely on assistance animals to alleviate psychiatric or mental disabilities — for example, a military veteran with post-traumatic stress disorder.

“Those cases are a not insignificant portion of the number of cases that HUD investigates” through its fair housing office, Mr. Heins said, adding that the housing department could dismiss or shelve thousands of appeals for disability accommodations under the new rule.”

Emotional Support Animals and Fair Housing Law information may be found by clicking here.

More about the HUD Secretary Scott Turner’s attacks on HUD’s subsidized housing tenants may be found by clicking here.

In memory of the legendary activist attorney John Murcko who in the past defended many of HUD’s subsidized housing tenants from evictions in Oakland, and the Bay Area.

Lynda Carson may be reached at newzland2 [at] gmail.com

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