Rats, mould could trump pets as housing issue

As people circulate petitions to allow people to keep their pets in N.B. Housing units, some say the government is missing the real issue of focusing on problem tenants.

NDP Leader Dominic Cardy, for one, said he's has received about a dozen reports of rats and mould in provincial housing.

More than 100 people living in Parkton Heights in Moncton have been told if they have a pet, they have to get rid of it by Thursday. It isthe second N.B. Housing unit to be given this notice.

"It makes no sense. Why can they get all excited about a couple of little quiet cats and they can't get all excited when somebody's running through the halls at three in the morning screaming, or when you've got only one burner working on your stove?" said Madi Leger, whodoesn't live in N.B. Housing, but supports those who want to keep their pets.

Subsidized housing residents deserve more from the province and that ithas an obligation to the poorest and most vulnerable people in society to keep them in at least a reasonable degree of comfort, said Leger.

Ban cruel

Meanwhile, Cardy contends the pet ban is cruel and calling on the provincial government to cancel all of the eviction threats and rethink the entire policy by focusing on problem tenants instead of punishing all pet owners.

"If you're living on social assistance you might not have the same strong network of friends so these pets are even more important than they might be for the general population," he said.

Cardy has started a petition, asking the minister to change the policy.

He is also calling for changes to the provincial Residential Tenancies Act that would remove discrimination against pet owners so they can't be kicked out of an apartment for owning a pet.

Social Development Minister Sue Stultz has said residents were never supposed to have pets as part of a policy that has existed for years and signed leases to that effect. Letters were sent in response to a complaint, she has said.

The department did, however, issue an exceptionTuesday for a Moncton man with cerebral palsy.

Dani Sonier, 19, got a letter saying he can keep his nine-year-old dog, Molly.

The letter, written in French and signed by Rebecca Roussel, a program officer with the housing unit of Social Development, suggests he was ordered to get rid of his pet in error.

His mother, Carol Sonier, had argued the dog helps manage his disabilities.

Psychological burden

AFredericton psychologist says the provincial governments decision to force people in subsidized housing to get rid of their pets could cause significant psychological distress.

Joan Wright said the fact that tenants kept pets in violation of their lease agreements suggests they probably have very strong emotional bonds with their animals.

Breaking those bonds would cause grief, stress and any number of psychological and medical responses, she said.

"To have to make that determination to either have housing in the dead of winter, or to lose their pet is going to be a huge, huge psychological burden on them," said Wright.

"So somebody that has to make that choice has the potential to go into significant psychological distress because they're losing, basically a part of their family."

In addition, research shows having a pet reduces the symptoms of stress, she said.