To my fellow Texans and concerned citizens of the planet: We say NO MORE BLOODSHED! NO MORE. The pandemic brought on a crimson wave, a holocaust of incredible individuals lost. Impoverished and desperate people, including those who are disabled or victims of crime, have been driven by their landlords to make a Sophie's Choice on their own family members. Some take their innocent, best friends to animal shelters or let them out of the door into the street. Instead of these children being able to stay in their loving home or find a home; they are met with death row.  

According to the publication Frontiers in Veterinary Science: [Their findings are] that less expensive pet-friendly listings were more likely to have pet fees charged on top of rent than rental units that were more expensive. Additionally, when pet fee burden was defined as a function of average income by census tract, low-income communities and communities of color were more likely than higher income and predominantly white communities to pay disproportionately higher fees to keep pets in their homes. We also find patterns of spatial inequalities related to pet fee burden by a metric of income inequality by city. The burden of pet rental fees may contribute to both housing insecurity and companion animal relinquishment. We discuss these findings as they relate to inequalities in housing, with particular attention to marginalized and disadvantaged people with pets. This article is cited below along with several others.

With all of those awful findings, it will not be a topic found on the nightly news. It is also a bigger stretch for most citizens in our society to believe or prioritize how our home stability issues as a society are the root of the animal homelessness problem. It certainly is. However, this glaring reality is causing us to wake up. We can CHANGE NOW and stop the senseless loss AND advocate for humanity for all! This issue affects our livelihoods in more ways than just animal advocacy. This is destroying the planet we live in. 

Where are the strings being pulled from? Corporations, of course. Most landlords behind this are at a majority part of large management conglomerates. Their tactics are sophisticated. Similar to the never ending debts in serfdom, the principles go as far back as tenants and landlords go. These landlords (including the barely over-the-minimum wage leasing office staff) are not anybody's friends, especially of any animals'. Secretly, they do not want anybody's pets there as much as they may advertise the contrary. 

Pet Rent is a fee that is charged as a monthly fee to tenants. Pet Rent should not be confused with a Pet Deposit. The recurrent Pet Rent is a common practice where many places charges as much as 250 USD monthly alongside rent; sometimes in conjunction with a Pet Deposit among all other costs. Plainly, Pet Rent is a deterrent tool from landlords (again, mostly management companies) used to keep people from bringing pets to the property. 

Most people in the middle class do not have the extra 300 a month to pay extra fees. This holds truer to the lower class. There are plenty of fees to start with by moving in. The management companies bank on the fact that people moving to apartments are in need of a home fast. The tenant is already giving up parts of what they find acceptable to guarantee themselves a place to live. So why is this predatory?

People who rent typically are in a disposition where they cannot afford to own a house. Many people are paying the equivalent of a home mortgage that will never build equity because of obstacles of poverty include bad credit or the inability to put down a substantial down payment. The tenants may even have some sort of living instability where they find themselves moving around for one reason or another (such as victims of crime). Our most vulnerable adult populations including those with mental illnesses, addiction are doing their best to survive by making their monthly payments on time and tacking this on is very overwhelming. Probably enough to tip them over into bigger problems. The penalties for not reporting these animals are steep, as well. 

Once a person becomes attached, the management tightens their grip. Pets ARE allowed and always were allowed, but not certain breeds AND at a price. A big one. Also, the property may not be very accommodating or convenient, but maybe they do have a dog park. That being said, without the payment of these steep fees they are not allowed to call this place home... Without a home what is a person to do? 

Again, this is not all renters, but is the reality for many, especially after the pandemic and in this economy's day and age. Pet rent is also tacked on regardless of the security deposits or the popular "3 times the rent"-esque deposits paid out. Meaning that one is still liable to pay any damages caused by the pet under one's name in addition to all other fees.

Breed restrictions are also imposed on top of it all. Regardless of having any sort of proof their pets are well trained or vet records to demonstrate the tenants are responsible owners. 

Long story short, the management companies do not want pets there, may pretend they do for business, but make it so hard on the middle lower class by putting so much pressure to the point that they either pay up or give up. Those that cannot afford to keep up are giving up out of desparation. Many of these people are trying to put gas in their car. They are not to blame. Them being marginalized and forced to give up is what is costing lives. 

The domino effect can be seen in so many ways. 

When these pets are given up there are people affected too. Imagine how children feel having to say goodbye to their furry brothers and sister's because their family needs groceries. How awful is that?

When pet owners set the animals free to the street it is a death sentence. They are domesticated and will not do well in the outside world like neither you nor I could. These street animals starve, get hit by vehicles, get hunted by other animals, are exposed to diseases, freeze or burn in pavement, die of dehydration, get raped if they are females that are not spayed. Encountering one of these pets or a feral pet (which is a multi generational manifestation of homelessness, not that they are wild) is an extremely sad thing to see because they are indeed unrecognizable to the bright eyed baby somebody once loved. They are dirty, covered in scabs and scars making it even harder for many people to want to help them considering they actually are in desperate need of help. This problem is massive considering trapping takes a giant amount of time and feral colonies once spayed or neutered at times are to be returned to their colony so they can eventually die of natural causes. They cannot be ignored any longer. 

When these animals are brought in to animal shelters, those who do not get rescue intervention on time (or due to the complexities of each area shelter) are "put to sleep." That being said, this giant influx of animals that are sacrificed for room do not just fall asleep. Many of these animals react to the euthanization process, including newborn babies, asphyxiating and suffering while shaking, defocating and urinating themselves sometimes for many minutes. This is the horror they experience after they've already been locked away fearing for their lives as if they're disposable. Their keen senses are smelling and hearing death and fear of countless brothers and sisters as they wait. It actually dying by lethal injection that we only save for the worst murderers in society (which even then, is called into question as to being inhumane, actually banned in some states).

This happens to adoring senior dogs and cats who honored us with love, patience, and loyalty for their entirety of their lives. This happens. Every. Single. Day. Who is to say animal lives aren't as valuable as ours? What does it say about humanity when we watch animals limping, dehydrated on the side of the road and simply move on? Are we going to keep having to look away at the mess our neighbors have caused? Until I see it written in the stars, I have a hard time believing that God does not love His creation. No matter what religion you believe in we simply need to do better.

IT DOES NOT NEED TO BE THIS WAY. This CAN and WILL change. This is the first step. Maybe we can hope for special incentives, such as tax incentives, for people to rescue, foster or adopt. The sky is the limit. We just need to acknowledge as a society that it is ALL of our problem even if we aren't all experts in the handling of pets. 

Please join me in this fight to beg local and state politicians to outlaw this predatory practice that is literally killing those whom we don't deserve. Please call upon insurers and medical professionals including family practices, obgyns, and mental health professionals to join this cause by stepping up and helping vulnerable citizens of our state in getting ESA letters or service animals.

This will be the first step of many that need to happen in order for shelters to be emptied. We may still demand for laws and enforcement that all animals be spayed and neutered unless their is some special permit to preserve a breed, we may still demand incentives potentially in the form of tax relief for those who rescue, foster or adopt. We will still demand anything it takes to empty shelters and stop the euthanization and neglect of domesticated animals. 

Firstly, we need to Outlaw Pet Rent. Save Lives!  Let's start something here in the beautiful state of Texas that will be mirrored nationwide and around the world! Thank you. 

Sources:

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8606550/

https://fapihitemp.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/PIHI-Sept20-2.pdf