Animal Humane Society Program Helps Pet Owners Facing Home Insecurity

The Animal Humane Society in Golden Valley received a grant to launch a pilot program that will help people who might be struggling with housing displacement to keep their pets.

“Those folks who face difficult challenges, especially these past couple of years since the COVID-19 pandemic began,” said Anne Gass with the Animal Humane Society. “They are seeing situations like job insecurity, financial insecurity, and job insecurity. They are facing those challenges, and those people have pets. We want to be able to help those people keep their pets and our new program allows them to do that.”

Under the new program, pet owners will be referred through a social service agency. The $125,000 grant from PetSmart Charities will allow the Animal Humane Society to help with vet services like spay and neutering or other vet care as well as vaccines, medicine, or even food or litter. It would also help with temporary housing for the pet. They will be able to house a pet for 60 days.

“As we talk about these challenges that folks are facing, it’s usually not just housing for their pets,” said Gass. “They might need other resources for themselves and the human members of their family. So those referrals come through social services, and once we get the referral we focus on how we can best help the pet.”

The ultimate goal is to reunite pets with their families and keep families in tact. 

“We absolutely believe pets are a part of the family and so this program allows those families to reunite at the end of 60 days or sooner. If possible, we really like to keep those families whole,” said Gass.

Shannon interviews Anne Gass from Animal Humane Society.

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