ITHACA, N.Y. — Kandi Owens has two dogs, Kato and Kharizma. During the warmer months, Owens lived with her dogs and boyfriend in a tent on a plot of city-owned land on Ithaca’s West End, referred to as “the Jungle.”
When nighttime temperatures began to dip below freezing at the end of October, Owens said she made a plan to take the dogs and move into seasonal shelter under New York State’s “Code Blue” law, as she had done last year. Under the law, localities have a mandate to provide shelter to anyone who asks, often utilizing rooms at local motels, especially for people with pets.
“We went through Code Blue [season] last year with Kharizma,” Owens said. “No issues. They put us at Best Western and then the Country Inn and Suites last year. And all of a sudden this year, they’re not even trying to help us.”
Requirements for shelter that are in place during the rest of the year, like income limits, certain counseling or employment tasks — or the ability to pay the shelter out-of-pocket if someone cannot meet those requirements — are not supposed to be enforced when Code Blue is in effect. But this year, Owens said, it has been much harder to get shelter for herself and her pets, despite the lower barriers.
Owens said shelter staff did eventually agree to let her bring the dogs in, but only if they were kept in crates, possibly in a separate area while she and her boyfriend would have been in the shelter’s main congregate housing.
“Between my PTSD and anxiety and my past traumas and our dogs’ — one’s about to have puppies and the other one is like 10 months old and he has separation anxiety and anxiety around a lot of people — it wouldn’t have worked out well for anyone,” Owens said.
That night, Owens said, she and her boyfriend decided to go back to their encampment and sleep outdoors that night, despite the low temperatures. As of Dec. 15, Owens said she was still struggling to get shelter for herself and the dogs, who are now eight in total: her dog Kharizma, she said, had delivered a litter of six puppies in early November.
Owens said they are waiting to get both dogs registered as support animals. Until then, they don’t feel comfortable separating from the dogs and don’t think they should have to. Owens said each dog provides emotional support to the couple.
“Not all animals and owners are the same, we take care of our dogs,” Owens said. “We take care of them better than we do ourselves. It’s messed up that we have to suffer because of other people’s mistakes and choices. We love our dogs like family because they are family.”
Shelter staff at St. John’s Community Services told The Ithaca Voice there had long been a policy restricting animals at the shelter, but until recently, it had largely not been enforced. This is the first winter in several years where the policy will be actively enforced.
The change roughly coincides with a change in leadership at the shelter.
Mike Bogan, who has served as director of the St. John’s Community Services homeless shelter on West State Street since October, said the shelter does not allow non-service animals in part because the state agency that oversees homeless shelters does not reimburse facilities for costs associated with housing people with pets.
“It’s [the New York State Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance (OTDA)], it has nothing to do with us,” Bogan said. “We’re just following the guidelines that are presented to us.”
OTDA guidelines state that “only those animals that qualify as service dogs that are trained to perform a task for disabled persons must be housed in temporary housing with their owner.”
Outside of service animals, shelter directors sometimes have the latitude to determine their facility’s policy towards animals independently — though parent organizations, like St. John’s Community Services, also often dictate house rules as well.
Bogan said the OTDA does not provide funding to cover costs associated with housing both people and their pets.
“We don’t turn anybody away,” Bogan said. “We are definitely trying to shelter everybody. We just can’t always shelter pets.”
Bogan said he hasn’t seen many people with pets seeking shelter so far this winter, but that he and shelter staff have encouraged people to find alternative housing for their pets or get them registered as support animals.
The Tompkins County Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) has a program that allows people who are between housing situations to temporarily house their pets in the animal shelter for a few days. Pet owners may be required or encouraged to surrender their pets, particularly if the animals are not up-to-date on vaccinations or are not neutered or spayed.
Whatever the statewide agency’s policies, the shelter’s practice this year represents a significant change for the local homeless population. Bogan’s predecessor, Chris Teitelbaum, took a more laissez-faire approach to the pet policy than what the shelter historically allowed.
“What we used to do is if you had a pet, and that pet behaved itself, we just sheltered you with that pet. This was dogs, cats. There was a guy with a rat once, which I was not thrilled about,” Teitelbaum said with a laugh.
Teitelbaum, who left St. John’s in late spring, said he felt somewhat conflicted about his approach.
“We ran into a lot of problems with it,” Teitelbaum said. “We had clients who were breeding dogs, essentially. Someone would be sheltered at the motel with a dog. And we’d get a call two weeks later, like ‘There are 12 puppies up here.’”
Teitelbaum also described instances in which a pet owner would not be able to properly clean up after their pet while under seasonal shelter, which had on at least one occasion resulted in a significant fee from the motel housing them.
“But sometimes that animal is an individual’s only kind of companionship in the world,” Teitelbaum said. “So it’s pretty important.”
Homeless outreach worker Richard Rivera said he worries the policy would encourage people like Owens to risk freezing temperatures or other, less safe housing options to avoid being separated from their pets.
“Right now, the dog policy is going to determine whether people get housed or if they’re unhoused,” Rivera said. “They’re not going to go inside if their dog is not allowed inside. And that’s just a matter of fact. They know this, I know this, their conviction is just that fast.”
Rivera said he and fellow outreach workers have watched people’s dogs during cold weather. Other outreach workers stressed that pet ownership should not stop people from seeking shelter from freezing temperatures.
“I will take their dog for a night,” Rivera said. “Me or [another outreach worker], we’ll take the dog for the night. If we can’t, we’ll pay somebody in town $20 to watch the dog for the night. That’s how we’ll solve the problem. It’s not an insurmountable problem.”
Rivera said he’s concerned about the pet policy, but said it is just one of many that he said can dehumanize people and deter them from seeking the seasonal shelter to which they are entitled under New York State law.
“The dog [policy] is just part of the process that’s targeting these populations,” Rivera said. “And most people don’t know, because the only ones that are affected by these policies are people that need housing.”
If you need help getting shelter for yourself or your pets, call 211 anytime. During business hours, you can also text your zip code to 898-211 to get more information.
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