I live in student housing, but it's not a dorm per se- I live in a house on campus. I know it's possible to have a pet because in the house next to us a girl has her (very rude untrained) chihuahua for her anxiety. My psychiatrist could write a letter/fill out any forms. And my friend needs to find a home for her cat, who is very friendly and has an even temperament.
It's certainly possible to have a cat with me, but my question is, is it a good idea?
Answer
Meow:
No. Pets are not allowed in the dorm and even if you have a letter from a doctor they will still most likely refuse it.
Only SERVICE ANIMALS - TRAINED, NEEDED guide dogs are covered with the Americans With Disabilities Act.
Have your parents rent you an apartment that allows pets and move there. Or go to a local college and live at home.
LakeLady:
Depends on if the cat can be happy there. Having a miserable cat won't help your depression at all.
If he could then you need a letter from your mental health professional, written on his/her practice letterhead and dated within the last 12 months, that the cat is necessary to your mental health and emotional well being.
Now the cat is your ESA and according to the fair housing act a landlord (including dorms and student housing) MUST make all reasonable accommodation for your cat to live with you. No small excuses will absolve him. He can't say one of the other tenants is allergic or anything.
It has to be something like his insurance company will cancel all his insurance. Certain people will be along shortly to tell you that you can't do that, that you're not disabled and the cat is just a pet. They persist in this although I've linked the law many, many times. Ignore them.
Good Luck
EDIT maybe if I just SAY where the relevant case law can be found.....The Fair Housing Amendments Act of 1988, Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, and Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act protect the right of people with disabilities to keep emotional support animals, even when a landlord's policy explicitly prohibits pets. Because emotional support and service animals are not "pets,"
Star-O-Darkness:
Nope
You can't have a cat. And ESA is only a pet therfore no LL has to allow them and no collage dorm will allow an ESA since they are jsut pets and they are not allowed in stores or anything. no amount of whining and crying will make a LL allwo the cat and you will be evicted.
Mircat:
Just because a neighbor has a dog doesn't mean the college allows it! Do not make that assumption. You need to go to the housing people and ask them and find out what paperwork you need to have filled out by the doctor.
Jim:
legally, in the US, yes..but logistically...its not a good idea...dorm rooms are not a good place for a cat unless all of the residents are mature and responsible...
are you going to try to keep it inside? will they be careful not to let it run out? are there a lot of guests over?
An ESA is not a pet, it is an assistance animal....all college sponsored housing must allow it, and almost all private landlords must allow it...but if this is a privately owned house...and the only house the landlord owns, he does not have to allow it
ADA does NOT allow ESAs...but FHA/504/HUD do
there are very limited exceptions to the law
The same is not true under the Fair Housing Act (“FHA”), which requires covered entities to accommodate a larger universe of “assistance animals,” including untrained emotional support animals, in “dwellings” subject to the Act. Because the FHA imposes significant additional obligations, it is important to consider where the FHA applies and what obligations it places on colleges and universities.
Applies to: The FHA, which is enforced by the DOJ and HUD, covers residential “dwellings,” a term that likely encompasses campus housing including residence halls and dormitories, though the courts have not affirmatively settled the matter. As one federal court recently noted in a case involving application of the FHA to a boarding school dormitory:
The FHA defines “dwelling” as “any building, structure, or portion thereof which is occupied as, or designed or intended for occupancy as, a residence by one or more families.” 42 U.S.C. §3602(b). At first blush, this definition would appear to exclude school dormitories, which ordinarily do not house “families,” but the FHA instructs that “family” includes a single individual. 42 U.S.C. §3602(c). Because a boarding school dormitory is occupied as a residence by one or more individuals, then, it fits the statutory definition of dwelling [17].
At least one other federal court has similarly held that a school dormitory is a “dwelling” subject to the FHA [18]. Courts have also found the FHA to apply to a number of other facilities that provide less-than-permanent housing, including group homes, summer bungalows, seasonal cabins for migrant workers, and nursing homes [19].
However, courts have also held that certain short-term or transient facilities do not constitute dwellings for FHA purposes, including motels [20], bed and breakfasts [21], and city jails [22], leaving some room for debate about whether residence halls and dormitories fall within the Act [23].
While the courts have yet to conclusively apply the FHA to all campus housing, HUD has not been so reluctant. HUD’s reasonable accommodations regulations (implementing the FHA) expand the notion of “dwelling” to encompass a “dwelling unit.” As defined under HUD’s regulations:
Dwelling unit means a single unit of residence for a family or one or more persons. Examples of dwelling units include: . . . dormitory rooms and sleeping accommodations in shelters intended for occupancy as a residence for homeless persons [24].
Thus, notwithstanding the lack of judicial clarity with respect to the FHA’s definition of “dwelling” applying to campus housing, HUD’s regulations implementing the FHA expressly cover dormitory rooms, at least for reasonable accommodation purposes.
Recent public statements and enforcement actions against universities also indicate that HUD considers the FHA to be fully applicable to residence halls and dormitories in the reasonable accommodation context.
For example, in 2009, after a three-year investigation, HUD charged Millikin University in Illinois with violating the Fair Housing Act because of the school’s failure to make a reasonable accommodation by granting a student’s request to live with her assistance animal in a campus residence hall [25].
The charge sought, among other relief, $16,000 civil penalties against both the University and its Vice President for Enrollment. The University settled with the government in federal district court on January 11, 2011 [26]. In discussing the case on the federal government’s Disability Blog, Bryan Greene, the General Deputy Assistant Secretary of HUD explained:
United States of America v. Millikin University highlights the principle that under the FHAct, university housing must be provided and administered to persons with disabilities in a non-discriminatory manner – in other words, fair housing does not stop where the campus begins.
