Changes Coming for ESA Owners

1 memo and multiple articles later, changes coming to ESA owners is a goddamn mess.

I am not a lawyer, or a legal expert, but in my position I do my best to stay up to date on changing rulings and share the info in ways we can understand. That said, I’m also posting links at the bottom that I feel do a good job explaining the changes.

Read on to learn what changes are coming to ESA owners, or potential ESA owners, from the Housing & Urban Development department, and why, in my professional opinion, it is only going to add confusion.

ESA vs Service Animal

Definitions, scope, and training

Emotional Support Animals (ESA)

Originally, ESA owners got protection for:

Flying with an animal (that has since been taken away, and you can find more info on this in the Air Carrier Access Act)
Taking their animal to a mental health appointment
Obtain permission to have the animal live with them in non-pet housing

ESA stands for Emotional Support Animal. This is typically any animal who provides comfort to someone with a disability or medical condition where the comfort significantly helps. Originally, there wasn’t a stipulation for housing that an ESA be trained to any degree.

This is different from a Service Animal.

trainer guides a small dog off a set of steps to teach OFF

Service/Assistance Animals

Service animals are only allowed to be dogs and miniature horses, under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), a federal law. *Select counties and states expand this to other animals, but generally the ADA is the law that’s followed for most places in the U.S.*

Additionally, there are some places that fall under Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act, but that’s another complicated conversation. I recommend familiarizing yourself with both federal and state laws to understand what applies where.

A service animal, under the ADA, is a dog or miniature horse who has been individually trained to perform work/tasks that specifically relate to their owner’s disability. Tasks include but are not limited to,

Alerts
Deep pressure therapy
Interruption of harmful behaviors
Disassociation assistance
Balance & stability work
Opening doors
Guiding
Retrieving
And more.

While not being a hard rule, it’s accepted and generally understood by the community that these working animals take 1-2 years of obedience, public access, socialization, and task training for their job.

People often ask me what level of training an ESA needs…

By the law, training for ESAs has previously not been required, which I disagree with from both a personal & professional standpoint. I have feel, as a service dog user and trainer myself, ESAs should be required to have basic home life training to be of the best benefit to their owner (eg. Not adding to their owner’s stress by being untrained).

I feel it’s essential for ESA dogs to have basic home life manners, for the safety of others living nearby and for the well-being of the animal. Technically, though, most animals are capable of learning:

Coming at their name
Impulse control
Potty-training
Cooperative care for management, if a more exotic animal type
Possibly tasks or functional tricks. I have trouble calling something an animal other than a dog or miniature horse does, a task, as other animals are less reliable in training performance and tend to be more independent

I do agree ESA use is somewhat out of control and there are people who just want to waive the pet fee/rule.

I also respect that there are individuals with disabilities and medical conditions who have a better quality of life because of that animal and genuinely need them.

What’s Changing for ESA Owners?

The changes the Housing & Urban Development (HUD) are putting into effect are, confusing, and chaotic, in my opinion.

Laws & Agencies

The Fair Housing Act is a federal law that allows for the reasonable accommodation of an assistance animal to live with someone in non-pet housing.
The FHA definition of an assistance animal is broad, covering both service animals and emotional support animals.
The Housing & Urban Development department (HUD), is the agency that enforces the FHA, similar to how the DOJ enforces the ADA (or is supposed to).

Accessibility Barrier to Find Answers

The assistance animal page is gone from the Housing & Urban Development website.
First search for “assistance animals” and it says 404 then re-reroutes to the home page.
Second search for “reasonable accommodation” and got nowhere.
Third search for “disability” leads to the page of information for disabled individuals.
The memo detailing upcoming changes to the HUD is not posted on their site as an update, news, or on the disability page. It’s an internal memo, which isn’t required to be shared. I had to read several articles before I could find it.

What’s Going On

You can still ask if you can have an ESA
Your landlord will no longer be required to waive the pet policy or grant your request
The HUD won’t pursue complaints
If you currently have an ESA, your landlord might decide to re-evaluate their choice on you and be within the guidelines from the updated memo
The memo wants ESAs to be trained, but not in obedience or manners.
The changes stipulate ESAs must now be a “Trained ESA”, who can do at least 1 task that specifically relates to your disability, but it can still be any animal.

*Please read the articles I’m linking at the bottom to understand these changes further.*

Trained ESA vs Service Animals

Breaking through the confusion

What are my rights if I have an ESA that isn’t a dog?

Even if you train your ESA to ground during a medical episode or alert to a medical episode or retrieve meds, your housing location will accept that as trained to help a disability, but the general public will not in the vast majority of places in the U.S. Because, for leaving your housing location, you and your disability now fall under the ADA, which only recognizes dogs or miniature horses.

What are my options if my ESA is a dog or miniature horse?

If you really only feel like you need their assistance at home, do the 1 task training and, I recommend adding obedience & mindset in the home training, and keep them at home as a Trained ESA.
If you’re re-evaluating your disability and feel that you could benefit from the dog’s consistent assistance at home and in public, my advice then is that your dog be evaluated for suitability as a service animal (some dogs are not going to be stable-minded outside of your home, and therefore not service dog material) – this is a service I offer. And then, that you do the full work of training them to be a service dog if that is what you need.

Will a "Trained ESA" Be a Service Animal?

No, a “Trained ESA” will not suddenly be a “Service Animal” in the eyes of general public federal law (ADA) if it is any animal other than dog or miniature horse. Additionally, there are other details in the ADA about the animal being under control, house broken, etc, so really, you do need to do all of the work if you need the assistance of a dog or miniature horse in public for your disability. *And certain types of housing fall under the ADA or 504*

Additionally, service animals go through a hell of lot more than being trained to do 1 task. They’re carefully selected (or should be; as it isn’t regulated, there are definitely some fake service animals, poorly trained ones or ones who never should have been asked to do this job), intensively trained in obedience, being neutral to their surroundings & environment, public access etiquette, and then trained in 1 to multiple tasks that help their person mitigate a disability. Some teams do only need 1 task, others, like my own, need multiple tasks for more complex disabilities.

How Do I Know What I Need?

Option 1, book a starter consult with me and we can talk it through together

Option 2, listen to this podcast I made a few years ago that explains the differences and offers questions for you to consider

Just Curious, What’s Involved with Service Dog Training?

Can Disabled Advantage Help Me Train My ESA?

If you have an ESA, or are considering one, and are interested in doing home life training and 1 task to help your disability, Disabled Advantage can help you, but only if it is a dog. I do not train other animals.

Currently, my full training package slots are full (as of May/June 2026). If you’re interested, though, send me a message and I can put you on a waiting list. I will require you do home life training as well as 1 task, to be sure you do indeed have a trained animal, not just an animal with 1 task and nothing else. I will repeat often, that this is not a service animal under the ADA, unless we determine that’s what you genuinely need and then you will be switched to a much more intensive training program with me. Think 1 – 3 months (ESA) versus 1 – 2 years of training (Service Animal). I am committed to helping owner-trainer teams build reliable, professional service animals. I take it very seriously, and will not support, encourage, or train anything less. Trained ESA to meet the new HUD changes and Service Animal as described under the ADA will remain different calibers of animal.

black dog in a red-orange awareness ribbon heart with text reading Dogs Helping Chronic Illness Warriors All of this may change again. My heart goes out to anyone who genuinely and currently relies on the support of an ESA. I imagine it feels like you’ve been flipped upside-down. I do not wish that stress or shock on anyone.

However, if you’re one of those who faked a need just to waive a fee, you should be ashamed of yourself.

Resources

On the Changes:

General Law Info:

ADA https://www.ada.gov/topics/service-animals/
Fair Housing Act (HUD is the organization that enforces the Act, similar to how the DOJ is who we contact if there is an ADA complaint) https://www.congress.gov/crs_external_products/R/PDF/R48113/R48113.1.pdf (page 21)
HUD disability info page https://www.hud.gov/helping-americans/disabilities