Emotional Support Animals (ESAs) are an important part of many people's lives. They help them face the daily challenges of life with a loving companion. They provide comfort, a sense of stability, and an anchor for these individuals’ lives.
However, some people who don’t know much about the world of ESAs wonder if a person can have more than one emotional support animal.
There are a few different nuances to this topic, so let’s dive right into it and explore.
An Emotional Support Animal (ESA) is an animal companion offering therapeutic benefits to individuals with mental or emotional disabilities. Unlike service animals, ESAs don't need specialized training.
Their primary role is to provide emotional support, helping to alleviate symptoms of anxiety, depression, PTSD, and other mental health issues. This bond between an ESA and its owner can be profound, offering a sense of stability and reassurance in their everyday life.
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) provides specific guidelines for how landlords and tenants should handle ESAs.
Landlords and housing providers must consider requests for multiple ESAs if the resident provides proper documentation that each ESA supports them with a distinct need.
According to HUD, having more than one ESA is permissible, provided each ESA addresses a different disability-related need.
Since ESAs do not undergo special training, it can be confusing to understand why some cases call for more than one ESA. However, here are two examples so that we can get a better sense of it:
An individual with anxiety and PTSD might need one ESA to alleviate anxiety through constant companionship and another ESA to support them during PTSD episodes, offering a different type of comfort and distraction.
Someone battling depression and panic disorder may benefit from one ESA that provides motivation and joy, mitigating depressive symptoms, while a second ESA could detect and respond to panic attacks, offering immediate comfort.
Just like a guide dog is trained to provide support for a specific type of disability, or a drug dog for sniffing out drugs, different ESAs may be better at providing specific kinds of care and support.
These examples illustrate how different disability-related needs may need multiple ESAs.
As we can see from the above, the main duality comes from a general support animal who helps with an everyday disorder (like anxiety or depression) and another ESA for when they have a serious mental health episode, such as a panic attack.
In this way, each ESA can play a unique role in supporting the individual's mental health, and that’s why it's important to respect these diverse requirements.
There are two standard requirements for this:
Documentation from a licensed health professional must clearly state that each ESA is necessary for a distinct disability-related need.
Both residents and landlords must follow Fair Housing laws throughout this process. Housing providers should not automatically approve or deny requests but should review each case individually based on the specific documentation provided.
While housing providers cannot ask for specific details about your disability, they can require documentation verifying the need for multiple ESAs.
To streamline this process, platforms like OurPetPolicy can offer easy-to-use support. OurPetPolicy is an animal management and emotional support animal verification service that helps properties ensure compliance with HUD guidelines. Both residents and landlords can navigate the verification process smoothly, ensuring that all documentation is properly managed and that fair housing practices are upheld.
In summary, having more than one Emotional Support Animal is both possible and sometimes necessary to address different disability-related needs. Adhering to HUD guidelines and following the verification process are key steps in ensuring that your needs are met while respecting fair housing practices.
If you have any questions about verifying emotional support animals, contact us.
