The Effects of Homelessness on Pets: An Interview With Ashlee Yepez of the Watauga Humane Society

Logo of Watauga Humane Society, Photo Cred: Watauga Humane

Brayden Howard, Staff Writer for The Powderhorn

For many, pets are core members of their family: essential loved ones who keep them company through times both good and difficult. These experiences are naturally shared among people struggling to find consistent shelter and housing. It can often be difficult to find shelter and aid that is open to their animal companions as well. This becomes a deeply distressing problem, and often a tragic decision must be made between sheltering themselves and keeping their pet. 

“We find that when there are housing insecurities for people, if there’s not pet friendly housing that they can find, ultimately, if they reside in our county, we are a safe haven where animals can come to. It varies for different reasons that people have to surrender their pets, or are unable to find pet friendly housing,” said Watauga Humane Director of Shelter Operations Ashlee Yepez. “They might have a place that they’ve lived out of where they’re allowed to have their three pets, but they’re forced to move somewhere where they can only have one pet, or no pets at all. So then they kind of have to pick and choose, and then we do have people who do go through experiencing homelessness. In those situations where there’s no housing whatsoever, that could be really limiting.” 

Unfortunately, there are often few options available for these people to keep their pets, with the best solutions often being to work through the Humane Society or other similar organizations, relying on the careful work of others to take care of their beloved pets.

“By the time we’re getting the details on a housing insecurity situation, most of the time, people have already tried their best to find housing, to secure housing, to do what they needed to do to be able to take their pets with them. So oftentimes, they’re reaching out to us because they don’t have an option, because they’ve kind of expended all their options,” said Yepez. “We try to help guide people in different ways, to help keep their pets or temporarily re-home their pets with friends or family members that might be able to hold on to them for a while until they find pet-friendly housing.”

The decision to re-home a pet can be an incredibly difficult one to make since the presence of animal companions is often incredibly important to a person's sense of belonging and their general mental health. These benefits of having a pet are only exaggerated when one faces a difficult time, such as facing housing insecurity or hunger.

“Sometimes their pets are the only companions that are staying by their side and helping them push themselves to do better. They’re doing what they can to secure housing not just for themselves, but for their pet, or they are looking for a job, not necessarily for themselves, but for their pets. So we know that wherever there are people, there will be animals, so those companionships for people who do struggle with being unhoused oftentimes are important,” said Yepez. “It’s a judgment-free companion that’s right there through thick and thin. And again, it’s kind of that pets end up becoming motivating factors for ourselves, and that’s what we see with a lot of these unhoused people. It’s a motivating factor for them to keep pushing and have a better life for themselves and their pets.” 

Up to 25% of unhoused people are estimated to own at least one pet, and the importance of these pets to them is why many organizations, such as Watauga Humane Society, try to find any way possible to take care of these animals. The difficulty of finding housing largely comes from the limits many rental properties and apartments place on pet ownership. Nationally, 78% of rental properties allow pets to some level, but 93% of those have some limit on the size or breed of the animal.

“We as organizations can’t dictate what people choose to put as their housing restrictions when they’re renting out to people. Especially when we look at Watauga County, we have a really high short-term housing market for students, rentals, and Airbnbs. We see a lot of homes that aren’t really for people living here full time, and not just homes but apartments as well,” said Yepez. “I think that really puts a hardship on people trying to find not just a place to live, but the right place to live. Specifically, when we’re talking about dogs, dogs require being able to go out on walks, they require more frequent breaks from the house, they require more exercise.”

These requirements mean that if pet-friendly housing is not located near dog parks or other open areas, it only becomes more difficult. These issues are mostly large-scale systemic problems that are mostly resolved by local and state government actions, which are primarily influenced through voting and public pressure.

“I think that it goes beyond what we do as an organization. It goes back to the members of the community and showing up to represent yourself and others. When it comes to elections, like who you’re voting for, for your county commissioners and what their mission is, and showing up for town hall meetings to kind of speak on behalf of these challenges that are here,” said Yepez. “As an organization, we haven’t quite hit that point yet where we can level up that advocacy beyond our walls. But we do a lot of things to help people find ways to keep their pets again.”

Ultimately, this advocacy for the community becomes the most important and essential part of aiding those less fortunate. 

“For us as the Humane Society, we're here to house animals, of course, but we're also a community resource, beyond helping house animals in need, whether they're stray or whether they're owners' surrendered pets that need to be re-homed,” said Yepez. “Whether it's a housing challenge or training challenge or medical challenge, we're offering that listening ear and guiding people as best we can, as pet parents ourselves, or as people who are familiar with what options there are for people, and doing so in a judgment free way. [We are] really trying to meet every community member where they're at and making sure that they kind of feel as supported as possible.”