Pets of all kinds have become an important part of the modern-day family. An estimated 72 percent of renters have at least one pet, according to humanesociety.org.
It’s also very important to a lot of college students to have a pet — specifically a dog or cat — as it is proven to help with homesickness. But because of certain rental housing limitations, they are unable.
Students can bypass these limitations by going the emotional support animal route, but that requires a letter from your doctor or lots of paperwork. Many people don’t qualify for it.
However, it is proven that children do a lot more damage to property than your average pet.
There are many ways that pets and children are alike when it comes to ruining your rental unit, like, making lots of noise (dogs bark and cats meow, and children often scream and cry), they both can get pretty smelly, and there’s plenty of instances proving both children and pets can annoy neighbors.
The big difference is that young children have the abilities to be significantly more destructive than a dog or cat. Sure, some dogs chew on everything in sight and the un-potty trained dog might have a handful (or a few more) accidents, but there’s plenty of amazing cleaning solutions that completely take away any evidence of the said accident.
It’s way harder to clean marker off walls without buying paint, or clean nail polish out of the carpet because your child got into the cabinet. Those are only a couple examples of things a dog would never be able to do.
While I’m not saying children are less important than common house animals, there are many reasons as to why children can often do more harm than a small dog or cat.
There’s even a potential economic benefit to rental companies if they eliminate no-pet policies. There would obviously be more potential renters making units much easier to fill, and these tenants would renew their leases more because it’s hard to pet-friendly places. This would lead to more positive tenant-landlord relationships and lots of built trust over the years.
Pets are family too and denying potential renters simply because their furry companions do not go along with being truly welcoming and accepting. Denying people of good housing could potentially split up families and send animals to shelters.
Especially among students, the fee to bring a loved animal into their apartment often can’t be afforded, forcing them to find another place to live or give up their pet.
My dog is an emotional support animal, and in the three months of living here, he hasn’t done any sort of damage. It’s hard to imagine that the same could’ve been said if I had a child.
Our pets really are family too, and it would be okay for agencies to still have some regulations on pets, like meeting them beforehand or being potty trained. But it’s not okay to charge an arm and a leg when potentially more destructive residents are just overlooked.
For more information, or if you want to help with this issue, visit humanesociety.org and read their “Statement on Pets and Rental Housing.”
It’s time for rental companies to be more welcoming and stop denying housing for pets.
Kasey Haren can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @HarenKasey