Lack of Pet-Inclusive Housing in Alexandria Leads to More Animal Surrenders at AWLA
People across the country are facing housing-related challenges. When you add an animal companion to the mix, the challenges become even greater. Restrictive and unfair pet policies are forcing animal guardians to face incredibly tough choices, often requiring them to decide between giving up their pet or being homeless.
Many animal shelters, including the Animal Welfare League of Alexandria, are seeing increases in the number of animals surrendered due to housing-related issues. Nationally, around 14% of owners who surrender their pets to animal shelters cite underlying housing insecurity. In Alexandria, in 2024, nearly 21% of people surrendering their animals cited housing as the reason they could not keep their animal. That is up from 14% in 2021. Unfortunately, we expect this number to increase in 2025.
Why is this happening? Primarily because there is a huge lack of pet-inclusive affordable housing not only in Alexandria, but across the United States.
Pet-inclusive housing is rental housing that welcomes all cats and dogs as companions, regardless of their breed, weight or size. Pet-inclusive housing does not have exorbitant financial barriers, including non-refundable fees or high monthly pet rent.
There is a huge disconnect between the policies property owners are creating and what renters are looking for. Approximately 76% of housing owners/operators report they consider themselves to be pet friendly, yet 72% of residents say that pet-friendly housing is exceptionally hard to find. Campaigns like “Opportunity Starts at Home” have found that realistically only 9% of all rental housing can be considered pet-inclusive based on the standards shared above.
For people, the health and social benefits of animal guardianship have long been established. The companionship of an animal can decrease the risk of depression, anxiety and other ailments and improve a person’s physical, mental and emotional health.
For animals, policy changes that minimize the number of pets that have to be surrendered, as well as make pet ownership more attainable through more pet-inclusive rental housing, have the potential to save up to 10.5 million pets nationwide. By preventing animal surrenders and growing the pool of possible animal adopters, fewer animals would enter animal shelters across the country. Every year in U.S. animal shelters, approximately 920,000 animals are euthanized due to lack of shelter space and available homes.
Nationwide, just over 34% of households are renter households. Compare this to Alexandria where 57% of households are renters. This is consistent with the percentage of renters in the greater Washington, D.C. metro area. And of those rental households in Alexandria, 44% report that they consider their housing unaffordable with high pet fees contributing to the overall expense.
Given these facts, it’s easy to understand why animal surrenders at the AWLA are higher than the national average.
How can you help?
“Opportunity Starts at Home” considers the extreme lack of pet-inclusive housing, coupled with the lack of access to pet resources in underserved communities, a national crisis.
If you want to learn more about and work to change housing-related pet policies in our community, you’re invited to join the AWLA, other community members and local leaders at our Pet-Inclusive Housing Discussion and Happy Hour on May 29 from 5:30 to 7 p.m. at Royal Restaurant, 730 N. St. Asaph St. You can also text “Advocate” to 833-360-5466 to be the first to know about other AWLA advocacy opportunities.
You can make a direct difference in the lives of animals impacted by restrictive pet policies by signing up to foster with the AWLA. People who are able to temporarily foster large-breed dogs – the typical target of pet-restrictive housing policies – are most needed.
The AWLA has also partnered with Home to Home, an online platform that helps animal guardians find new homes and temporary foster homes for their pets. Self-rehoming and fostering can help animals avoid stressful stays at animal shelters.
Article published in the Alexandria Times, April 3, 2025