Lansing – University of Michigan housing officials and off-campus landlords are concerned about fraudulent letters of authorization for emotional support animals.
The bill, sponsored by Rep. Sarah Cambensi, D-Marquette, would penalize people who sell certificates online and protect homeowners from fraudulent claims. Known as the Emotional Support Animal Act, it passed the Michigan House in a 108-0 vote in late September.
Emotional support animals are animals that qualify under the US Fair Housing Act as a reasonable and necessary accommodation for a person with a disability to use and enjoy the residential property.
To have it on campus or in a rental property, people need documentation from a health care provider explaining the need for it, said Karlen Lehman, director of the University-based Michigan Property Managers Association. But the number of people getting fake IDs online has increased, he said.
“Now anyone can go online and fill out a survey to get a certificate,” Lehman said. “Even if a person has never seen a doctor or a therapist, they can enter their email address and a certificate will appear in their inbox very soon. , spend up to $200.”
Landlords shouldn’t accept letters that don’t meet U.S. Housing and Urban Development guidelines, Lehman said. But it’s a fine line between questioning someone’s validity and people feeling like you’re questioning their disability, she said.
“The bill doesn’t penalize the person who has a false certificate, but the seller who sold it to them,” Lehman said. “Hopefully this will stop people from getting fake IDs.”
He said the legislation will help protect people with legal documentation of mental, emotional or psychological needs for an emotional support animal.
“I believe that emotional support animals are a valid form of therapy,” Lehman said.
According to Lehman, landlords cannot charge for an emotional support animal. If an apartment complex requires a pet deposit and pet rent, people may try to get a fake ID to avoid those fees.
Michael Rutledge, manager of the Emotional Support Animal Trial at Northern Michigan University, agreed.
“People are taking advantage of people who want to register their pets as emotional support animals,” Rutledge said. “But there is no ‘National Support Animal Registry,’ and any website that claims it does is lying.”
Northern Michigan has several protections against false affidavits. Veterinarians who examine an animal must provide their license number, Rutledge said.
“The health of animals is also a concern,” he said. “These may be animals that previously spent their entire lives in a house with a yard and now live in a dormitory. Emotional support animals do not need to be trained and the animal may suffer in this new environment for which they were not prepared. “
There are destructive animals in northern Michigan. Rutledge said the more animals there are, the more potential there is for problems. Students who do not need a pet should be comfortable in their environment.
Other Michigan universities are reporting an increase in requests for emotional support animals and fake tests.
“We try to talk to the student right away when we suspect illegal documents,” said Cheris M. Frost, interim director of disability at Wayne State University in Detroit.
“We are trying to handle the situation very carefully. We support students and we want them to have everything they need to succeed. However, we have to follow certain guidelines,” said Frost.
She said the growing number of emotional support animals wasn’t much of a problem. There have been cases where a couple of dogs have decided they don’t like each other, Frost said, but there’s nothing wrong with that.
The House bill now awaits action in the Senate, where it has been assigned to a committee but has not been debated. The Michigan Department of Civil Rights opposes the bill, citing concerns that it deviates from federal guidelines.
“We don’t want to confuse people by making this change,” said Jerome Reid, the department’s legislative liaison.
The bill would require a provider-patient relationship 30 days before certification. The provider must have access to the patient’s medical records and monitor the effectiveness of the emotional support animal.
“Thirty days can be a long time for a patient to wait for a certificate,” Reid said.
“Some people may not have providers they see regularly, which means they have to go to someone new and that can take time. For people with intellectual or psychiatric disabilities who need an emotional support animal, it can be devastating,” she said.
According to the bill, the district attorney or the attorney general can be prosecuted for violating the law. Violators can be fined up to $1,000 for a first offense and up to $2,000 for a second offense, according to an analysis by the House Fiscal Agency.
The House and Senate passed similar legislation in 2020, but Gov. Gretchen Whitmer vetoed it, saying the two bills at the time would be “too invasive of the privacy of people with disabilities” and Michigan’s funding for Section 8 housing. puts 8 at risk. . In his veto letter dated Dec. 30, 2020, Whitmer said he was willing to “develop a solution that strikes a better balance between the needs of housing providers to verify information and the privacy rights of people with disabilities.”
Sarah Atwood writes for Capital News Service and is a junior at Michigan State University. The Detroit News contributed.
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