NYC complex in doghouse over strict no-pet rule
May 16, 2012, 3:37 PM
NEW YORK (AP) – A sprawling housing complex in the Bronx has been fined $85,000 for not allowing residents to keep emotional-support dogs.
The Daily News reports (
http://nydn.us/IXIyRF) that the company that manages Co-op City was fined by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development for denying two clinically depressed residents their pets.
Co-op City has a strict no-dog policy, but federal law requires housing providers to make accommodations for disabled residents.
A HUD official tells the newspaper that emotional-support pets are no different from service dogs for blind people.
A lawyer for the management company says the firm adopted a new policy in December that has led to more accommodation requests being granted.
That’s good news for JoeJoe the Maltese and Figgy Newton, a Chihuahua-whippet mix. They can sit and stay.
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Information from: Daily News,
http://www.nydailynews.com
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