In a May 22, 2026 internal memo, the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) revealed that the agency is reassessing its guidance for reasonable accommodations requests for assistance animals.

The memo, which was addressed to HUD’s Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity (FHEO) offices at Headquarters and across the HUD regions, states: “Effective immediately, for all complaints related to animal-related reasonable accommodations, FHEO will find reasonable cause and recommend charges only for those cases involving animals trained to provide disability-related assistance.”

The guidance impacts Fair Housing Act protections for tenants with certain kinds of assistance animals. For example, an Emotional Support Animal (ESA) provides therapeutic comfort to individuals with mental or emotional disabilities simply by being present. ESAs differ from service animals, which are dogs individually trained to perform a task directly related to a person’s disability. Under HUD’s previous guidance on assistance animals, tenants could have an ESA if they could provide medical documentation supporting their need for the animal. It was not necessary for the animal to be trained to perform specific therapeutic tasks.

While housing providers have the discretion to allow Emotional Support Animals, under the new guidance, HUD will not seek fair housing-related charges against housing providers that do not allow ESAs. Per the memo, “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 ESAs are not.” Additionally, FHEO will no longer expect housing providers to categorically extend accommodations for trained assistance animals to untrained ESAs.

The Fair Housing Act prohibits discrimination against people with disabilities, including unlawfully refusing to make a reasonable accommodation that may be necessary for a person to live in a unit. The memo refers only to disability-related complaints under the Fair Housing Act and does not address how the agency will process complaints against housing providers under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) or under Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act, which already have narrower definitions and allowances for service animals.

According to the memo, HUD plans to engage in rulemaking through the notice and comments process to update assistance animal regulations and align with the narrower definitions found in the ADA.

The HUD memo, authored by Mr. Craig Turner, the Assistant Secretary for Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity, points to President Trump’s Executive Order 14219 from early 2025 instructing all federal agencies to review their enforcement activities and practices. 

LeadingAge has inquired with HUD about the impacts of the decision on medical- and disability-related income deductions utilized by tenants in certain HUD-assisted rental assistance programs.