Marlena, a 7-year-old pit bull mix, has been surrendered twice because her owners couldn’t find housing in Massachusetts that would accept her. 

Both times, Marlena returned to the Animal Rescue League of Boston, caught in a cycle affecting thousands of pets across the state.  

Now, Massachusetts lawmakers are pushing bills aimed at keeping families and their pets together in the face of restrictive housing rules. 

The Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, ARL Boston, Humane World for Animals and Animal Legal Defense Fund discussed the effects of the affordable housing crisis on families with pets and the proposed legislation in response to the crisis at a Massachusetts State House briefing Monday afternoon.

State Rep. Tackey Chan presented an act aimed at restoring and updating Massachusetts’ pet-friendly housing policies for elderly people and those in state-aided public housing.

The legislation, if passed, would expand pet ownership rights to all state-aided housing residents; ban discrimination based on a dog’s breed, size or appearance; and cap pet deposits to reduce financial barriers, said ALDF Senior Legislative Affairs Manager Stephanie Harris. 

Jessica Simpson, a senior specialist for public policy at the Humane World for Animals, said this issue is “exploding across the country” with “a focus on protecting that bond between a tenant and a pet.” 

“What’s been really nice about the work that we’re doing in Massachusetts and work we’re doing around the country is that we don’t really have to reinvent the wheel here,” Simpson said. “There’s some really strong examples of solutions at various levels of government across the country.” 

Reps. David Rogers, Samantha Montaño, and Pavel Payano also introduced an act to maintain stable housing for families with pets.

The legislation would limit evictions and hotel denials during emergencies, expand state-aided housing pet programs and cap for pet rent while protecting service animals. They would also prohibit insurance discrimination based on a pet’s breed and focus only on actual behavioral risk.

Lauren Loney, attorney for Lauren Loney Consulting, LLC, and public policy specialist, introduced data she had been collecting with the MSPCA for the last six months during the meeting. 

Loney said 60% of Massachusetts zip codes reported relinquishing at least one pet due to housing issues from 2022 to 2024, which resulted in more than 3,000 pets losing their homes. She presented data that revealed housing-related issues are responsible for a significant portion of involuntary pet relinquishment cases in the state and across the country. 

“People don’t want to be giving up their pets, but they don’t feel like they have any other choice,” she said.

Payano shared his own struggles navigating the rental market as a former dog owner during the meeting. 

A lack of pet-friendly accommodation forced him to settle for an “extremely expensive” place, where he still witnessed other tenants “being pushed out” of their homes.

“With the ongoing housing crisis in our state, it’s exposed many inequitable and unfair policies where landlords and property management companies don’t allow dogs or don’t allow certain breeds of dogs in their rental units,” Payano said. 

Only 39% of rental units in Massachusetts accept dogs, Payano said. That number drops to 7% when considering weight restrictions for medium and large breeds. 

“We have a rental market that provides few affordable options to renters,” he said. “The bans and restrictions placed on dog breeds lead to owners having to make an impossible choice: having a roof over their head, or their dog.”

Through its partnership with the MSPCA, the Humane World for Animals has taken a closer look at housing-related reasons behind pet relinquishment, Simpson said.

Between 2023 and mid-2025, nearly 2,000 people shared detailed information about their housing challenges in a survey, Simpson said. The data revealed that about one-third of pet surrenders were tied to housing restrictions, and 37% of respondents said they would have used a short-term foster program if it had been available. 

She said the survey also found that a disproportionate number of relinquishments come from people in subsidized housing. 

“These are families that are already extremely vulnerable and already are trying to utilize resources available to them, but nonetheless are meeting barriers and feeling as though they have no other choice but to relinquish a pet,” Simpson said. 

An estimated 217,000 households living with pets are experiencing “high levels of housing insecurity,” Loney added. 

“This is not a small population of people that are impacted by this issue,” Loney said.  

By proposing these new pieces of legislation, Payano said he hopes to expand the options and protections offered to pet owners in today’s rental housing market. 

“These bills represent a comprehensive solution to many of the problems pet owners in our state have faced in the ongoing housing crisis,” he said.