We are the new kid on the block.  Our patrons are homeless individuals and families with dogs, a number of whom are domestic violence survivors.  Our goal is to help these most needy members of our community to obtain housing and services for themselves and their dogs.

Our essential mission is to ensure that our patrons and their dogs are safely and comfortably sheltered as we seek decent, affordable, long-term, pet-friendly housing for them.

According to the NYC Department of Homeless Services and Department of Housing Preservation and Development, in January 2023, 72,562 people slept in the main NYC shelter system; thousands more slept unsheltered on the streets of New York City, and about 10% of these people were pet owners.  The unsheltered pet owners often do not utilize the City shelters because they cannot keep their pets with them in these facilities.   

While DSS-DHS does not allow pets of any type to reside with their owners in their shelters, they do seek to accommodate requests for Emotional Service Animals (ESAs) on an individual basis, based on a client’s unique needs; they do this because service animals and approved emotional support animals are not considered pets.  Emotional support animals must have an approved Reasonable Accommodation Request (RAR) to reside in these shelters with their owners.  (Families With Pets can assist our patrons to obtain the requisite ESA certification to enable them to utilize any available City shelter spaces with their dogs by their side —