Now Open: Early Bird Registration For The My Dog Is My Home Conference

Whether you work in homeless services, animal welfare, government, or are an individual interested in supporting humans and animals, please join us for the My Dog Is My Home Conference 2025.

Held virtually, the My Dog Is My Home Conference (March 25-27) brings together advocates and practitioners from across the United States to work towards a pet-inclusive standard in emergency and permanent housing.

A win-win-win for people, animals, and service providers; pet-inclusive housing:

• Supports humans’ mental, emotional, and physical health

• Saves animals’ lives

• Frees space in animal shelters that are beyond capacity

Register NOW to take advantage of our Early Bird registration rate! Scholarships and group rates are also available.

This year’s conference will feature speakers, presentations, and workshops by experts in the field, interwoven with inspiring talks and performances by people with lived experience of homelessness.

Past speakers and presentations have included:

• Julián Castro: Former United States Secretary of Housing and Urban Development & Former Mayor of San Antonio, TX

• Dr. Leslie Irvine: Author of My Dog Always Eats First and director of University of Colorado’s Animals and Society Certificate Progam

• Jackson Galaxy: Cat behavior and wellness expert, two-time New York Times best-selling author, and host/executive producer of Animal Planet’s “My Cat From Hell”

• Ann Olivia: CEO of the National Alliance to End Homelessness

Don’t miss this opportunity to secure your spot!

OUR SPONSORS

Platinum Underwriter: Maddie’s Fund

Friend: PetHelpFinder.org

Supporters: National Alliance to End Homelessness, PetSmart Charities

Benefit: J. Mclaughlin Hosts Holiday Shopping & Good Cheer

On Saturday, December 14th, the J. McLaughlin boutique in Millbrook, NY, will benefit My Dog Is My Home by donating 15% of all sales throughout the day. Plus, all funds raised at the event will be MATCHED by a generous donor!  

If you live in the area, please join us in person to meet My Dog Is My Home founder Christine Kim and shop at the store, enjoying complimentary refreshments. If you can’t make it, you can still peruse the offerings online and call the Millbrook location of the store on the day of the event, December 14, to order: 845-677-6197. Please remember, in order for your purchase to benefit MDIMH, it will either need to be made in person at the Millbrook store or by phone (online orders aren’t included in the benefit).

Thank you for your support throughout the holiday season!

NYC Open House With Urban Resource Institute

On November 15, My Dog Is My Home held a successful Open House in New York City, co-hosted by Urban Resource Institute (URI)

Approximately two dozen representatives from human services organizations, animal welfare nonprofits, and tri-state area governments came together to learn how to provide pet-inclusive emergency housing for people experiencing homelessness. We also heard Elizabeth Rose’s powerful story of surviving homelessness due to domestic violence and the importance of staying with her companion cat, Bebe, through her journey. See Elizabeth share her story in these videos: with footage of her at home and told live.

In addition to locally based attendees, we welcomed My Dog Is My Home fellowship grantees from Women’s Advocates in St. Paul, MN. The event was covered by PIX11 News, on the WPIX (New York, NY) television network.

This Open House was made possible by the generous support of Maddie’s Fund, #ThanksToMaddie.

My Dog Is My Home Celebrates 10 Years of Advocacy for Sheltering People and Animals Experiencing Homelessness Together

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

10-27-2023

Headline:

My Dog Is My Home Celebrates 10 Years of Advocacy for Sheltering People Experiencing Homelessness and Their Animals Together 

My Dog Is My Home, a national nonprofit organization dedicated to preserving the human-animal bond in circumstances of homelessness, is celebrating the 10-year anniversary of its founding, featuring its beginning as an exhibition that drew upon the personal stories of human-animal families experiencing homelessness. 

This multi-location event will kick off with a Thanksgiving opening show in New York City. Other locations will include Los Angeles, California, and Cincinnati, Ohio. The celebration will showcase artwork from My Dog Is My Home's original exhibition and give voice to individuals who have experienced homelessness with a companion animal. At the event, NYC locals will share their stories and experiences of homelessness with their companion animals. Their experiences guide My Dog Is My Home’s work and inspire change.

Event Details:

New York City Kick-off

Date: November 18th, 2023

Time: 3:00 PM - 7:00 PM

Location: Studio Exhibit -  26 Broadway, New York, NY 10004

Tickets: Available for purchase through Eventbrite.

“My Dog Is My Home was founded on the simple principle that animals are members of our families. People should not be asked to choose between a roof over their heads and their companion animals. Over the past ten years, our work has advanced the acceptance of co-sheltering and co-housing for people and animals together, and we continue to ground ourselves in what we believe started this powerful movement — the voices of people who have lived experience. We are excited to celebrate our 10-year anniversary by reviving the exhibit that started it all. Through storytelling, arts, and culture, our inaugural exhibition explored the relationship between people experiencing homelessness and their animals. This challenged the mainstream understanding that individuals of certain income and housing status are undeserving of animal companionship and that we cannot and should not keep people and their animals together.” said Christine Kim, founder of My Dog Is My Home. 

My Dog Is My Home is a national nonprofit organization dedicated to preserving the human-animal bond in circumstances of homelessness. Due to a general "no pets allowed" rule within social services, people experiencing homelessness are often forced to decide between their companion animals or shelter. My Dog Is My Home does not believe this is an ultimatum anyone should have to face. For this reason, the organization works to assist in the expansion of accessible shelter and housing for human-animal families. 

This event is generously sponsored by Lil BUB’s Big FUND and Hood Venture Counsel. If you or your organization is interested in being financial sponsors of the event, please reach out to the My Dog Is My Home media contact.

About Our Sponsors:

Lil BUB’s Big Fund exists to advocate for special needs companion animals and build a community that celebrates and fosters the human animal bond. With a focus on animals who are the most difficult to adopt, the most expensive to care for, and who are at a high risk of euthanasia, Lil Bub’s Big Fund provides grants to shelters nationwide and partners with shelters to create special needs foster program initiatives. We visit schools to promote kindness and inclusion. Through our work, we share BUB’s message of overcoming adversity and the knowledge that the things that make us different are worthy of being seen and appreciated.

Hood Venture Counsel helps startups and growing companies protect themselves without sacrificing their bottom line. We counsel companies in a variety of industries on corporate, compliance, governance, regulatory, and intellectual property matters. Our Concierge General Counsel service provides an on-call attorney for companies who don’t yet have the need or the budget for a full time General Counsel. Our founder’s in-house background guides our philosophy that our job is to help our clients get to “yes” – while ensuring they are fully protected. Visit jonhoodesq.com to learn more or to contact us directly.  

Media Contact:

Christine Kim

Christine@mydogismyhome.org

An Interview by Rev. Daniel Lawlor, Co-Director for the Unitarian Universalist Ministry for Earth

As My Dog Is My Home continues to educate different stakeholders about the Providing for Unhoused People with Pets (PUPP) Act, we have been engaging faith communities to discuss the importance of how their congregants, spaces, and constituent voices can contribute to an end to homelessness for people and animals alike.

Recently, team members of My Dog Is My Home were interviewed by Reverend Daniel Lawlor, Co-Director of the Unitarian Universalist Ministry for Earth, about the PUPP Act and its connection to climate justice. Read the interview below.

Reverend Daniel Lawlor (RDL): Who are you, and what is your role at My Dog Is My Home?

Christine Kim (CK): My name is Christine Kim and I am the founder of My Dog Is My Home. 

Mason Castillo (MC): I am Mason Castillo and I am My Dog Is My Home’s Policy Associate.

RDL: My Dog Is My Home is actively advocating for pet friendly affordable housing through the PUPP (Providing for Unhoused People with Pets) Act. Why are you inspired by this work?

CK: As a front line social worker in housing and homelessness organizations, I saw how much people needed their animals and how the “no pets allowed” rule hurt people’s ability to get off the streets. Sometimes, people would make the hard decision to part with their animals in order to access shelter or housing — a highly traumatic event on top of the losses they had already experienced. For organizations and advocates working to end homelessness and provide trauma-informed care, we need to embrace animals as a part of our social systems and include them in service planning. There is no good reason to continue to exclude them when we have existing pet-friendly models of sheltering and housing people and their animals together providing us with blueprints, and when all the scientific evidence shows us that pet-friendly shelters and housing are a significant gap in services.

I also viscerally understand that homelessness and the dearth of affordable, pet-inclusive housing affects us all. I have experienced housing insecurity with my companion animals. My family members have experienced housing insecurity. My friends and neighbors have experienced housing insecurity. There is no “us and them.” This is an issue that impacts each of us.

The PUPP Act will ensure that funding is available to create emergency shelters and permanent supportive housing that is inclusive of people’s animals. Mason and I both understand this need from a professional standpoint, as well as a personal one.

MC: When I was 16 years old I had to live in the streets for a while. Although every story is different and we all have different experiences, I was lucky in the sense that I was able to stay with friends sometimes. This wouldn’t have been possible for me if I had animals. There were even fewer shelters that accepted animals back then. 

I can’t imagine a life without my dogs and cats today. But I’m also painfully aware of the current housing insecurity crisis. The chances of me becoming homeless again at 37, with a career and a steady income, are still too high for my comfort. 

No one should have to choose between a roof and their family. I’ve worked really hard to bring this reality to everything I do to help me find the compassion and the strength to do my job. I currently work for a municipal animal shelter and let me tell you, the things that I see are a reminder that anyone can experience homelessness at any time. The truth is that people love their animals. I’ve never met someone faced with the nightmare of losing their home that was happy to have to surrender their animals to me. Homeless people deserve dignity, respect and love and I believe that the PUPP Act will help many people and many organizations ensure they get that, but we need to pass it first. 

RDL: During a time of extreme weather, why should Unitarian Universalists be involved with advocating for pet friendly affordable housing?

CK: The fights for climate justice and affordable housing, as well as pet-friendly affordable housing, are all related. Climate change and extreme weather hit the most vulnerable populations the hardest, and climate disasters inevitably cause loss of homes, mass movement, and migration for people and animals alike. 

Mason and I both are not only involved in My Dog Is My Home, but we are also advocates for migrants, refugees, and asylum seekers, some of whom are seeking safety with their animal companions, making long and dangerous journeys with their beloved dogs and cats. Broadly speaking, our advocacy is in the space of “home” — those who left it, and those who are seeking it. 

To me, it makes utter and complete sense that even outside of Mason and myself, many of us at My Dog Is My Home believe deeply in the concept of “sanctuary,” push our governments to rise to occasion to welcome migrants to our communities, and also believe that the climate crisis is the greatest threat to humanity. Without addressing climate change, the homelessness crisis will grow ever more urgent. Without affordable housing, we will be lacking a critical tool to save the lives of the constant stream of people being displaced by an already changed climate. 

Hurricane Katrina is a classic example of what happens when emergency systems, including the ones activated for extreme weather, leave the animals behind. Not only were countless animals forcibly left behind, but the people who were coerced to abandon their animals had to suffer the loss and trauma of being separated from their furry family members with no promise of reunification and very often no peace of mind that their animals were rescued.

The national outcry of how animal evacuations were handled during Hurricane Katrina led to the bi-partisan Pet Evacuation and Transportation Standards Act. During increasingly polarized times, I am hopeful that the deep love people have for their animals is still a common thread across the aisle and that we can all agree that people need their animals and their animals need their people in times of crisis. This is why I believe the PUPP Act can and will pass. 

Unitarian Universalists need to use their powerful constituent voices to pass this very common sense bill that can protect the lives of so many. 

MC: I don’t think we can talk about climate justice without bringing up immigration, racism, health care and of course, affordable housing. We cannot advocate for one and ignore the others because there are direct correlations between all of them. We have a chance to pass a piece of legislation that will actually change this. 

We can’t keep ignoring the signs that we are experiencing a climate crisis. My community - an immigrant community - is at the highest risk of displacement due to the extreme weather we’ve had. We recently suffered one of the worst winter storms in the history of Texas. The electrical grid wasn’t prepared for it. A lot of people were displaced, a lot of people lost everything they had. As a result, they had to say goodbye to their pets to survive. This year we’ve had record-breaking high temperatures that not only put our homeless population at risk, but also those who felt secure about their housing situation. The grid, one more time, wasn’t prepared for it. And one more time, a lot of animals were surrendered to animal shelters. 

On a greater scale, human displacement by climate crisis is a reality we have to face. We have asylum seekers traveling great distances with their animals. They get separated at the border because there’s no infrastructure to address the situation. What’s worse is that they can get deported or transferred to another holding facility while their animals stay here. There are small rescues, like the Border Pups in El Paso, that work on reuniting immigrants with their animals but for the most part, there’s no way to house them together because we don’t have holding facilities or temporary shelters for immigrants with their animals. 

It’s inhumane to put people through this trauma, not to mention what the animals have to go through. The PUPP Act will address some of these issues by offering a path for pet friendly affordable housing and emergency shelter. 

RDL: How is this advocacy related to the upcoming US Farm Bill negotiations?

CK: The PUPP Act is being wrapped into the Farm Bill because of its relation to non-human animals. Similar to the way the Pets and Women Safety (PAWS) Act was passed by tying it to the appropriations in the Farm Bill in 2018, the PUPP Act will use the same strategy. This also means that if the PUPP Act does not pass during this Congress, we may have to wait another 5 years before the Farm Bill is reauthorized.

RDL: What are ways to get involved in this campaign?

MC: I think this campaign transcends the limits of the legislature. Obviously, the first and most important call to action would be to push for the PUPP Act to be passed. It would provide the infrastructure needed to immediately address some of the biggest issues. If someone is reading this and has never heard of the PUPP Act or the work that My Dog Is My Home is doing, please follow us on social media and support our cause. Use your voice as a constituent to ensure your representatives understand that this is one of those rare instances in which we can immediately fix a problem by passing a law. There are other issues right now that require a deeper mentality and cultural shifts that may never be solved in my lifetime. But being able to keep homeless people and their pets together isn’t one of them. We can change many lives right now. Beyond the PUPP Act, we need to find compassion in ourselves towards people that have no place to go. I was one of the lucky ones that had enough privilege and used it to get out of the streets. A lot of people can’t do that. Our system and our laws punish the poor and keep us oppressed. This is an issue that requires all of us to work together to find a permanent solution. The housing crisis, climate change, racial inequality, LGBTQIA rights, reproductive rights, access to health care and mental health support;  all of these issues are not isolated. I’m not asking people to fix a system that has been broken since the beginning of time, I’m asking people to be more human towards those who are trapped in a homelessness situation. A good way to learn to deconstruct your mentality towards homelessness would be to join our Co-Sheltering Collaborative. 

RDL: If you could have lunch with any Climate Justice leader, who would you want to spend time with, and why?

CK: I have to go with the young people who sued the State of Montana and recently won their case for their own constitutional right to a healthful environment, holding their government and fossil fuel stakeholders accountable for polluting the environment. I want to congratulate them on their victory and tell them how much I admire their vision, not only for a better future for generations to come, but to establish that they deserve the conditions to thrive. I am proud of them and inspired, and I hope we all learn to act with the urgency they have demonstrated.

MC: A lot of names come to my mind but if I could pick, I would love to sit down with land protectors to learn more about their culture and traditions, and at the same time, about the ways I can help protect their land. Two people I would love to meet are Quannah Chasinghorse and Xiye Bastida. Quannah was born in the Navajo Nation and is Han Gwichi’in from Eeagle, Alaskan and Lakota Siux. She’s a fourth generation land protector for the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and at 17 lobbied in support of HR 11-46, a bill that will protect the coastal plain from oil and gas development. The bill was reintroduced this year.

Xiye is Mexican Otomi-Tolteca, and at 21 she’s already a leader for the indigenous and immigrant community of climate activists. At a young age, she moved with her family to NYC from San Pedro, Tultepec due to the extreme floods that followed several years of drought. She’s currently an organizer for Fridays for Future, part of the administration committee for People’s Climate Movement, and co-founded the Re-Earth initiative, a youth-led organization that focuses on highlighting the intersectionality of the climate crisis.

My Dog Is My Home and Found House Co-host Co-Sheltering Collaborative Open House in Cincinnati to Showcase Pet-Inclusive Homeless Services

Special guests from Representative Brad Wenstrup and Senator JD Vance’s Office attended the Open House to show support for keeping people and animals together in times of crisis

August 4, 2023

Cincinnati, OH: On August 4th, 2023 My Dog Is My Home, a non-profit that advocates for access to shelter and housing for people experiencing homelessness with their companion animals, hosted a Co-Sheltering Collaborative Open House with Found House Interfaith Housing Network. Animal welfare organizations and homeless services providers came together to learn about Found House’s newly opened, fully pet-inclusive supportive housing program and Pet Support Program. Representative Brad Wenstrup (R-OH-02) and Senator JD Vance’s (R-OH) offices also attended the Open House to support pet-inclusive policies and programs. 

Restrictive pet policies in shelters and affordable housing are a barrier to essential services. People experiencing homelessness and housing insecurity will often delay or refuse needed services to avoid living without their companion animal. Others are forced to surrender their pets to animal shelters, causing stress to the family and to already overcrowded animal shelters. My Dog Is My Home highlighted Found House’s model and programs as an example of pet-inclusive homelessness and housing services for other providers to follow.

During the open house, My Dog Is My Home’s Founder, Christine Kim, spoke about the Providing for Unhoused People with Pets Act, or the PUPP Act, which is currently making its way through Congress. This Act would establish a $5 million grant program per fiscal year from 2024 - 2028 that would support emergency shelter or permanent supportive housing providers in expanding their animal accommodations. Kim explained, “People need their pets for emotional support. This bill supports the human-animal bond and helps people stay with their animals when they need them the most. My Dog Is My Home thanks Representative Wenstrup and Senator Vance for recognizing the importance of animals in the lives of people recovering from trauma, including our nation’s homeless veterans.”

In addition to the pet-inclusive supportive housing program Found House opened in April 2023, they have been operating the Pet Support Program for nearly a decade. The Pet Support Program provides temporary boarding for animals whose owners are seeking emergency shelter, medical care, or rehabilitation services. Found House’s Pet Support Program also provides pet food and veterinary care resources to low income pet owners. 

“When a single Dad and his teenage son came to shelter after living in their truck with their dog, they asked, do we really have to give him up, to get help? He’s been with us for 13 years and he is family. Of course, the answer was no. We could not serve families and tell them which members counted, and which did not. Not with any integrity. From housing that dog in a staff office, our Pet Support Program was born.”

The Open House Cincinnati was generously sponsored by Maddie's Fund®, #ThanksToMaddie, and the Coalition on Homelessness and Housing in Ohio.

About My Dog Is My Home: My Dog Is My Home, a national nonprofit organization, is dedicated to increasing access to shelter and housing for people experiencing homelessness with companion animals. My Dog Is My Home assists service providers like homeless shelters expand their programming to allow humans and their companion animals to remain together.

About Found House Interfaith Housing Network: Found House Interfaith Housing Network provides homeless families emergency shelter and hospitality through interfaith communities and works with families to find and retain stable housing. Established in 2014, the Pet Support Program is a pet shelter embedded into Found House IHN’s social service center providing a coordinated network of care for people and pets experiencing the crisis of homelessness, or related crisis, with the central goal to keep people and their pets safe and together.

Photos by Julie Gould of Bright Eyes Photos.

Media Contact

christine@mydogismyhome.org
(213) 705-7363

Spotlight on the Human-Animal Bond: Scott and Scout's Journey Together

The story of Scott and his dog Scout exemplifies why My Dog Is My Home is dedicated to preserving the human-animal bond during circumstances of homelessness and to ensuring that every family, regardless of its composition, has the right to shelter and housing. Scott’s journey with Scout began the moment the Labrador first opened his eyes and Scott said to him, “It’s you and me, buddy.” Scott would say these words to Scout every night and they became a promise that the two kept throughout their life together.

As Scott experienced homelessness for a second time, Scout served as the ultimate symbol of a light shining bright in the darkness. While Scott fought for his survival, Scout was his constant companion, helping him stay alive by reminding him that he was not alone, that he was loved, and that he mattered. Scott has many treasured memories of Scout from this time, including the sheer joy of watching Scout be his best agile Labrador self during backpacking trips and the quiet vulnerability of falling asleep together at the shelter.

Without Scout, Scott says he would not be here – he would not have recovered from addiction or homelessness, started working for the government, or begun speaking out for people and animals. Scout represented everything that home is meant to be – love, safety, security. Scott expresses, “Scout was a special, special boy. There are tens of thousands of Scouts out there that are offering people safety, security, and emotional stability, loving somebody unconditionally in the midst of trauma. That is what a perfect home would be - that we could feel safe and secure in the midst of life and all of its curveballs.” He concludes, “Keeping animals and people together is a way to begin and to maintain the healing process. People need to be able to stay with their light during their darkest hour.”

An Interview with Rob Stewart, Executive Director of New Horizons in Seattle, WA

New Horizons is a nonprofit in Seattle, Washington with a mission to end homelessness, one young person at a time. They offer several programs to facilitate youth’s transition out of homelessness, including a shelter, drop-in center, case management, and job training. New Horizons’ services are animal-inclusive, allowing staff and participants to include their companion animals in all aspects of care. Rob Stewart, Executive Director of New Horizons in Seattle, Washington, sat down with My Dog Is My Home for an interview about the animal-inclusive services they provide to youth and young adult program participants. If your organization is looking to further low-barrier and trauma-informed services by becoming animal-inclusive, reach out to My Dog Is My Home at info@mydogismyhome.org for technical support and connection to resources.

The following is an edited transcript of our conversation, with further details about programming, how animals are included in programming, pet care agreements/operating procedures, and more.

MDIMH: We are hoping to do this third blog post as a spotlight on an organization that serves youth experiencing homelessness and is already animal-inclusive. Can you tell us a little bit about the programming that you offer at New Horizons and if animals are included in all of the spaces or just some?

Rob Stewart (RS): New Horizons has been around for about 45 years and it has really changed. It was a very small organization that offered drop-in services until probably about 10 years ago, and then we developed our emergency shelter. Our biggest focus is on Housing Support Services. We work with young adults who are at the literal intersection of experiencing homelessness. From that point we work with them to move them into housing as quickly as we can. Our strategic initiative as an organization is to move 70% of our young people into housing within 100 days. To accomplish this, we focus and throw a lot of our resources at being highly, highly relational and in-tune with what our young people are doing. Through this we can then support them through wrap-around case management with the goal of moving them into their self-directed housing option, and whatever they think will bring them stability at the next stage.

We are animal inclusive across the board. Staff, and everyone is able to have their animals here on site and every program. There’s really no program that we would run where we disallow it. Even our shelter, which uses individualized spaces for young adults, has space for pets. We've had a variety of pets over the years here. We also run health clinics and we have some great partners that come in and do veterinary clinics. We have a One Health partnership, which provides services for both human health and pet health simultaneously. There is enormous intersection for the people that we serve.

MDIMH: Has New Horizons always been pet inclusive. If not, when did you transition to becoming pet inclusive and what was that process like?

RS: I can’t speak to what New Horizons’ pet policies were years and years and years ago, but part of who we are as an organization is that we want to be small and boutique. We focus a whole lot on depth of connection, depth of relationship, and the efficacy of our work versus the mass size of our organization. We’ve always been funky like that. I think we have always been hyper-relational across the board, and have always focused on the community development aspect of what we do. Part of our approach to developing a safe community for young people that often don’t have those meaningful connections has always been to ask ourselves, ‘What does it mean to do that well?’ You have to meaningfully include people’s pets, and that’s for both staff and for the people we serve. New Horizons wants to be as accommodating and as low-barrier as we possibly can for young people.

So as far back as I can remember we have welcomed animals, and it’s just in the ethos of who we are…this boutique place that wants to just be as accommodating as we possibly can, and as low-barrier as we possibly can for young people. That’s really what drives us to do it. And people love dogs.

MDIMH: There are some shelters that fully integrate animals into their spaces or social service programs, so they’re allowed in any of the areas, and there are other shelters where they’re in a separate space or in kennels. How do you house animals in your facilities?

RS: They sleep on the beds with our young adults, they’re in our meetings, and they’re in case management meetings. There are no kennels per se unless the animal specifically would require that. Sometimes we go so far as to put our pets on community agreements if they are having difficulty being in a space that’s a bit chaotic. It certainly happens where there are dogs that lash out or animals that potentially just cannot exist in the space well. So sometimes, just for the safety of everyone, we will ask people to kennel their dog if they’re not directly holding them or on leash. Our clients have to keep the dogs with them and maintain them, but they are able to roam around with their people.

We always say that the root cause of youth and young adult homelessness is fractured relationships, whether that’s a fractured relationship that reaches all the way back to their earliest childhood or if it’s fractured relationship increasingly with behavioral and mental health programs and providers who they used to have constant relationships with. This is at the root cause and many of them feel that disconnect. Homelessness is profoundly lonely. It just really is. A lot of young adults are looking for meaningful connection, and sometimes they decide that they’re going to adopt a pet even if they don’t fully understand what they’re getting themselves into. So we’ve increasingly done a lot more education with our young people around what it means to appropriately take care of an animal and how you do that well. How do you ensure that they’re being fed correctly? Do you have access to food? Do you have access to the things that they would need?

We’ve had some great moments, and we’ve had some real tragedies. We’ve had young people who have mismanaged their animals, and we’ll have to work with them and people who can help them find better foster situations if they’re just not able to maintain them. So we’ve worked really hard to make sure that our young people know how to care for the animal, because it’s also about community health here - how do we make sure that the animal is okay? We have a massive number of pet lovers on staff here, so they’re on top of incorporating these concepts into our services and relationships.

MDIMH: Is it the responsibility of all staff and all young adults in the programs to ensure the well-being of animals and people existing together? Or is there a specific person or a partnership, including or aside from the One Health Clinic with veterinary and human health professionals?

RS: Every person that brings a pet agrees to a pet policy that we hold. [See New Horizons’ sample pet agreement below.] Really, it is about taking care of the animal, making sure the animal is appropriately interacting in the space, all of those things. So there is a community agreement around how pets can exist in our space. And it’s everyone’s job, frankly, to manage and be a part of upholding that expectation. I have even sat in a meeting myself with a young adult and just said, “Let’s do some community agreements about your animal.” But if things rise to the level of needing to be addressed, then we typically loop in their case manager, loop in the person who’s program that they are in, and talk to them.

If it requires us bringing in outside support, we would certainly go to One Health, and we would go to other agencies that can temporarily foster animals. Certainly, when it feels like we are out of our depth, we will bring in expertise to help us understand how to support. Recently, this year we supported a client’s young dog that had a leg amputated. That was outside of our expertise, and so we brought in One Health and they helped do an enormous amount of fundraising support in that area.

We prioritize staffs’ meaningful interaction in programs. So it doesn’t matter what level you are in the organization, you have to be involved with programming. Even if you are not directly leading the program, you better be mopping the floors, serving meals every once in a while, and know the young adults’ names. It is a part of who we are, an expectation that we have. You can’t do the work well unless we do that.

MDIMH: Are there things in your pet agreement that other organizations looking to co-shelter humans and animals together may find helpful?

RS: There are things that we’ve learned over time. Community is really fragile in the work that we do, and as a result of that relationships are formed in expedited fashions. Sometimes trust is built when trust ought not be built. Often, people used to hand over their pets to anyone that would be willing to watch it, and then sometimes that pet would be mishandled, taken away, or moved to a different place. So we really stress that if this is your animal, it is your job to take care of this animal and not the job of another young adult. We’re pretty stern about that because we have seen that not go well.

I also think again, there are some limits to what we would do. I know that there are times that some young adults say, “I want to adopt,” or “I just adopted a whole litter of kittens.” They may not be in the position to actually manage that, so we’ll work with them. We work really closely with young adults. Whatever is in the agreement did not come from a series of books that we ripped it out of. It’s just from practice - what works and what do we see really go haywire. For the most part, pets are awesome. They don’t cause huge issues, and we don’t have to mitigate an enormous number of problems. On occasion we have a dog nip at someone, but it is really, really minimal. It doesn’t happen often. For the most part, young adults manage their animals really well and with a lot of care. These animals are their families, this is one of the most important things in their life, so they honor the pet as best as they can. Sometimes they lack the resources to do that well, but for the most part, I have young adults bring me pictures of their dogs as if they’re their children. It is awesome and I enjoy it.

MDIMH: Did you have any challenges when you first started? Many bring up concerns about insurance or things of that nature. Have you ever worked through that, or had to overcome any challenges like that?

RS: My honest answer to that is we’re working with a vulnerable population, and many of them are struggling with not having access to meaningful mental health support. And yes, we have lots of incidents, and rarely are they related to animals. When our insurance premiums go up because of some massive incident, it’s not because a dog went haywire. It’s because we don’t have appropriate support across the continuum to help our young people who have mental health concerns co-occurring with behavioral health. That’s the bigger issue. I’ve never seen an insurance premium go up because they say, “Oh, you have kittens on site - that’s too much.”

MDIMH: Aside from the Pet Care Agreement, do you have any other standard operating procedures in regards to being pet-inclusive that other organizations might find helpful?

RS: Largely it’s the pet care agreement that governs it. A lot of that is somewhat logistical. Who takes care of the animal, how does that animal get taken care of, those kinds of things. I don’t think you could do it well, unless you are willing to have all the things that the pets need. So we obviously supply all of that - toys, food, all of that stuff. It seems like that is an important component to it.

We don’t allow staff to watch the animals, unless the client is asking for help with fostering their animal. We won’t maintain the animals. Some of the reason is to help the young people build responsibility, but it’s also the same client-staff dynamic where we don’t want to be responsible for this thing that’s really sacred to you. We want you to figure out how to take care of the animal. It doesn’t mean that we wouldn’t let the animals stay with us during a meeting or something like that, but we would never take the pet home for instance.

MDIMH: If youth are off-site for employment or other things that they’re taking care of, are the animals required to go with them, or how does that generally work?

RS: Yeah, they would have to do that. We just don’t have the space or the staffing to do that. A lot of our young people work. When they are off site, we obviously can’t manage who watches their animal but usually a friend or a partner would watch their animal. We just don’t have the staff to do that.

MDIMH: Do you have a favorite story, or can you describe the best part of being animal inclusive?

RS: One of our young people did have a dog that got a really bad infection and they had to have their leg removed. In doing that, there were some really tough conversations that led to really good outcomes. I think helping both that individual and the animal find care was really good. The animal is healthy and happy and the individual really understands more and more of what it means to care for the animal, and continues to do a really good job in housing. I think that’s really neat. I still see pictures of the dog and see them on Wednesdays when they come in for the vet clinic.

Click here to see New Horizons’ Sample Pet Agreement (2022)

Youth Homelessness and Animal Companionship Research Summary

By Abbie Steinback, AMSW, and Blair Marshall

Overview 

The second post of our youth homelessness blog series summarizes the findings of several research studies of youth experiencing homelessness with their animal companions. Research demonstrates notable benefits of pet ownership for many youth experiencing homelessness, including significant physical and emotional support from their animal companions, particularly with youth who do not have access to safe and permanent shelter. Yet many youth experiencing homelessness with their animal companions also report significant barriers to accessing supportive services, such as shelter, housing, and employment due to “no pets allowed” rules. 

Protection

Youth experiencing homelessness often report feeling a strong sense of protection from their animal companions. In one study, among 332 youth experiencing homelessness who owned pets, 64% identified protection to be a benefit of pet ownership (Rhoades et al., 2015). Qualitative studies have also found that youth experiencing homelessness described their pets, primarily dogs, as their protectors (Bender et al., 2007; Rew, 2000; Thompson et al., 2016). Relationships for some youth were “conceptualized as the difference between life or death.” A first person experience shared by one youth stated that his dog saved him from being victimized on the street. Feeling safe on a daily basis is intertwined with mental well-being (Schmitz et al., 2021). 

Emotional Support

Studies have demonstrated that a companion animal may support a young person’s well-being beyond the literal physical protection. In evaluating the relationship between pet ownership and depression among youth experiencing homelessness, several studies found that pet ownership was associated with fewer depressive symptoms compared to youth without a pet and that pets often alleviate depressive symptoms (Rhoades et al. 2015, Lem et al., 2016, Schmitz et al., 2021). Interactions with companion animals are also found to mitigate loneliness, promote responsibility, prevent self-harm, and help in developing healthy self-esteem (Schmitz et al., 2021). In addition, pets serve as significant emotional resources for youth, particularly youth who are LGBTQ+ and more than twice as likely to become homeless and endure greater adversity while homeless (Schmitz et al., 2021). Youth in the study saw their pets as sources of crucial emotional support that they drew from in troubling times, said that their pets boosted their sense of self in positive ways, and that their pets provided a sense of stability and purpose in their lives. Some youth experiencing homelessness in the study shared the following about their companion animals, 

“They know when you’re hurting and they’re there for you.” 

“At least in one creature’s eyes, I’m doing the best I can.”

“They rely on me...I do need to be there for them to make sure they get fed and clean their litter box...it forces me to at least make sure I’m okay enough to be there for them.”

Barriers to Service

Despite this overarching evidence of the protection and support that animal companionship provides to many youth experiencing homelessness, findings have shown that having a pet can create barriers to accessing support services. Rhoades et al. (2015) reported that these youth accessed significantly fewer housing and employment support services, with almost half of these youth reporting that their pets made it more difficult to stay in emergency shelters. A lack of reliable, trustworthy, and safe pet care was also reported by youth experiencing homelessness with their pet as a barrier to maintaining employment (Bender et al., 2007; Lem et al., 2013). While Rhoades et al. (2015) did not find a difference in youth with or without pets in the use of food, clothing, health, education, or legal services, just over 10% of youth with pets did report difficulties accessing doctor’s appointments and approximately 60% reported that their pets eat before they do. In another study, researchers found a decrease in use of drop-in centers for youth experiencing homelessness with dogs (Tucker et al., 2018).

One advocate with lived experience shared the following powerful words: 

“The sense of meaning and purpose a beloved, loyal animal friend embodies cannot be underestimated. The comfort, companionship, emotional validation, is often their sole hope in an environment of isolation, stigma, stress, and absence of a healthy family support system. To ask a vulnerable youth to choose between shelter/housing and a friend who has been through hell with them, and loved and protected them, is a cruelty and counters their well-being in very real ways. You are asking them to surrender who they love most. We are not merely providing housing, we are called to provide a home. And without their companions, hearts are broken and retraumatized. Home is where love is. Home is where safety is. Home is where feeling seen and understood is. Do not amputate this relationship. To ask this of anyone is problematic, but especially so for vulnerable and homeless youth: the risk of depression, trauma and even suicidal symptoms will be the likely result. We must strategize for more humane solutions and accommodations.”

Conclusions

Pets often serve as lifelines, particularly in times of distress. All kinds of services including drop-in centers, emergency shelters, housing, and employment support, need to be expanded to acknowledge the diverse needs of young people experiencing homelessness, which include efforts to welcome companion animals in physical spaces. For many youth, “no pets allowed” policies are the primary reason they do not utilize critical shelter and support services. It is also essential to consider the well-being of both the humans and the animals when making services pet-inclusive (Schmitz et al., 2021).

Resources are available for shelters and social support services hoping to become pet-inclusive. Please reach out to My Dog Is My Home (info@mydogismyhome.org) to explore what existing resources can support your program. 

References

Kerman, N., Gran-Ruaz, S., & Lem, M. (2019). Pet ownership and homelessness: A scoping review. Journal of Social Distress and the Homeless, 28(2), 106-114.

Lem, M., Coe, J. B., Haley, D. B., & Stone, E. (2013). Effects of companion animal ownership among Canadian street-involved youth: A qualitative analysis. J. Soc. & Soc. Welfare, 40, 285.

Lem, M., Coe, J. B., Haley, D. B., Stone, E., & O'Grady, W. (2016). The protective association between pet ownership and depression among street-involved youth: A cross-sectional study. Anthrozoös, 29(1), 123-136.

Rew, L. (2000). Friends and pets as companions: Strategies for coping with loneliness among homeless youth. Journal of child and adolescent psychiatric nursing, 13(3), 125-132.

Rhoades, H., Winetrobe, H., & Rice, E. (2015). Pet ownership among homeless youth: Associations with mental health, service utilization and housing status. Child Psychiatry & Human Development, 46(2), 237-244.

Schmitz, R. M., Carlisle, Z. T., & Tabler, J. (2021). “Companion, friend, four-legged fluff ball”: The power of pets in the lives of LGBTQ+ young people experiencing homelessness. Sexualities, 1363460720986908.

Tucker, J.S.; Pedersen, E.R.; Parast, L.; Klein, D.J. (2018). Factors Associated with Drop-in Center Utilization among Unaccompanied Youth Experiencing Homelessness. Child. Youth Serv. Rev., 91, 347–354.

An Introduction to Our Youth Homelessness Series

On March 24, 2022 the US Department of Housing & Urban Development (HUD) issued their Youth Homelessness Demonstration Program (YHDP) Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO), providing instruction on how communities across the US can apply for $72 million to prevent and end homelessness. The YHDP is one of the first dedicated federal initiatives that funds permanent housing programs for youth, and focuses on building local coordinated systems for responding to youth homelessness. 

The deadline for communities to apply is June 28, 2022, after which HUD will award funds to up to 25 communities nationwide. Once HUD announces the selected recipients, the communities will have 6 months to develop and submit a Coordinated Community Plan detailing a vision, list of goals, objectives, action steps, and new projects, among other things, that will meet the need to prevent and end youth homelessness.

For the next several months, as a broad range of stakeholders focus their attention on the NOFO and its goal to build local and national momentum to address youth homelessness, My Dog Is My Home is launching its new blog with a series dedicated to youth experiencing homelessness with their animal companions. By spotlighting the voices of youth with lived experience, research, and programs, we hope this series both expresses the need for pet-friendly services and provides a roadmap for serving youth and their animals together in homeless services.

To begin, watch this video about Judie - a young person who struggled to find services that would accept her and her dogs together: https://youtu.be/Rm2U6KaqSkE.