Emotional support animals and housing: where the law stands in 2026

The framework

The Fair Housing Act requires housing providers to make reasonable accommodations in rules and policies when needed to give a person with a disability equal opportunity to use and enjoy a dwelling. Keeping an assistance animal in housing that otherwise prohibits animals is the classic example.

The Act covers most housing, including private rentals, with limited exceptions such as some owner-occupied buildings with a small number of units and certain single-family rentals by an owner without an agent.

What a request looks like

• Ask in writing, and keep a copy. Writing is not legally required, but it settles later arguments about what was asked and when.
• Say it is a request for a reasonable accommodation under the Fair Housing Act and any applicable state law.
• Include documentation of the disability-related need where the disability is not obvious.
• Ask for a written response, and follow up if none arrives. Silence is a common precursor to a complaint.

You do not have to disclose your diagnosis, and a housing provider is generally not entitled to your medical records.

How 2026 changed the landscape

HUD's rescission of its 2020 assistance-animal guidance on 22 May 2026, and the narrowing of FHEO enforcement to individually trained animals, removed the most accessible enforcement route for emotional support animal claims. A HUD complaint about an untrained animal is now unlikely to result in a finding of reasonable cause.

Two things remain. The statute is unchanged, and tenants may still sue in state or federal court. And state law is entirely unaffected, which is now the most important sentence in this area.

Why the state you live in matters more than it did

Where a state has its own emotional support animal statute, that statute now does most of the work. Those laws vary in what they protect and in what they require of the letter. California regulates who may write one and imposes a 30-day prior-relationship requirement. Other states address fees, or the accommodation process itself.

The practical consequence is that a letter written by a clinician licensed in your own state, following your state's rules, is worth considerably more than a generic one. It is also the difference between a letter that complies with a state statute and one that does not.

If a request is refused

• Ask for the refusal in writing, with reasons. This alone resolves a surprising number of disputes.
• Check your state and city law. Local protection may be broader than federal, and is unaffected by HUD's change.
• A state or local fair housing agency may still take the complaint even where HUD's own posture has narrowed.
• Speak to a housing lawyer or a local tenants' service about the private right of action. We are not a law firm and cannot advise on your case.