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Pets are family too; it’s time our housing systems caught up

Australia’s housing crisis is making it increasingly difficult for people to keep their companion animals, with limited pet-friendly accommodation forcing some families to choose between a home and their pet. Stronger protections, more pet-inclusive housing, and better support services are needed to help people and animals stay together during times of hardship.

RSPCA Australia
Thursday, 20 August 2026

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Australians love their pets, and the numbers show just how much. Almost 7 in every 10 households include a companion animal, many with more than one pet. For people who share their lives with animals, home often wouldn’t feel like home without them. However, for the growing number of people who rent, live in strata properties, or face insecure housing, keeping their families together with their pet can become much harder than it should be. Increasingly, the challenge has become not whether someone loves or has the means to care for their animal, but whether they can find a home that allows them to stay together.

Australia’s housing system is struggling on rocky foundations

For people with companion animals, housing insecurity can quickly escalate into a crisis. Whether, someone is navigating the increasingly competitive rental market, rising costs, limited availability, restrictive listings and strata rules, or facing more complex challenges such as an unstable home environment or domestic and family violence, these difficulties can be further inflated when a pet is involved.

Although Australian rental laws (under Australia’s state-based Residential Tenancies Acts) are progressing to protect tenants’ rights to keep pets, gaps still remain between formal legal protections and the realities of the rental application process. In most states and territories, landlords cannot simply refuse to approve a pet without a legitimate reason. However, these protections generally apply once a tenancy has been established or a formal pet request has been made, rather than effectively preventing discrimination during the initial selection of tenants.

This can create a quieter, harder-to-prove form of ‘silent discrimination’, where landlords or agents may favour applicants without pets without stating that pet ownership played a role in their decision. An applicant may simply be notified that another person was selected, making it difficult to establish whether their animal was the real reason they were unsuccessful. And because pet ownership itself generally isn’t protected under anti-discrimination law, unless the decision is connected to a legally protected characteristic such as disability or race, many renters have limited options to challenge this kind of exclusion.

Consequently, while current pet laws restrict overt practices such as blanket “no pets” rules and unreasonable refusals, they may not fully address discrimination occurring before a tenancy is offered. This highlights an important limitation of the current regulatory framework: the right to keep a pet does not necessarily guarantee equal access to rental housing for people who own pets, and the consequences extend far beyond to the tenants themselves.

Companion animals lose their homes too

When pet-inclusive housing is in short supply, animals experiencing home instability suffer too. Repeated upheavals to their environment, routine, and caregivers can cause them stress, disruption and separation from the people they know and trust, while shelters and rescue organisations end up caring for animals who could have remained safely at home if pet-inclusive options were available. In fact, of the dogs and cats surrendered to shelters, it has been reported that between 15% – 30% were by owners who were unable to take their pets with them when they moved to a new rental property.

The shortage of pet-inclusive accommodation is especially concerning for people and animals experiencing vulnerable situations. Domestic and family violence, homelessness, financial strain or chronic health challenges, are all situations that add an extra complex layer of strain for people already under tremendous stress, who face the difficult challenge of finding shelter and care for themselves as well as their companion animals, or even worse, the impossible decision of choosing between a safe place to live and being separated from them. This can result in further impacts that leave people and their pets at risk of harm. Recent research has shown that up to 50 per cent of people experiencing DFV delay leaving perpetrators due to concerns for their pets’ wellbeing. People may also delay vital medical treatment, or accepting safe housing if they cannot find a place that includes their pet as well.

When families are forced to choose between a safe home and being together with their pet, it can be devastating for all involved. Preserving the human-animal bond is recognised as contributing to emotional wellbeing, recovery and resilience during and after periods of crisis.

A fairer approach and more support are needed

Every animal who comes into a shelter deserves care, compassion, and the best possible chance of a good future. But preventing avoidable surrender is a better option for animals where it’s safe and appropriate to do so. Keeping companion animals with the people who love and care for them helps reduce stress, supports the wellbeing of families, and eases pressure on overextended animal welfare services.

Cost of living increases, coupled with the shortage of pet-inclusive rentals, shelters, and short stay accommodation are all part of the broader housing crisis affecting animal caregivers, with conventional housing continuing to become more expensive and difficult to secure.

There is a clear need for practical and compassionate solutions that consider every being in the family unit, not just the human kind. Solutions such as more pet-inclusive rental policies backed by stronger legal frameworks the address the ‘silent discrimination’ gap currently undermining tenant protections, better support for people and animals in crisis in the form of dedicated nationwide government funding to expand safe, pet-inclusive accommodation for victim-survivors of DVF, homelessness and those needing urgent medical care, and more consistent decision making across jurisdictions could all go a long way in helping people and their animals stay together.

What can people with companion animals do if they’re struggling to find housing?

If you have a pet and are finding it difficult to secure housing, there are steps you can take that may help. Begin with checking the Tenancies Act in your state or territory, as rental and strata laws differ across Australia, and this will help you to define what rules apply to you and what your rights as a tenant are. Apply broadly where appropriate even if a listing doesn’t explicitly specify that it is pet-inclusive and consider contacting the agent or property owner directly to explain your situation. Sometimes a simple pet resume can make all the difference, include your pet’s name, age, breed/species, desexing and microchip details, vaccination records, any important information about their behaviour and references from previous landlords, neighbours, or your veterinarian. This can help show how responsible you are as a pet caregiver and also how well your pet is cared for.

Similarly, arranging a ‘meet and greet’ with your pet and prospective landlord can also be a good way for them to make an informed assessment of your animal’s suitability to the property.

Most importantly, seek help early if you’re worried about potentially being separated from your animal. Contact your local RSPCA, as many of our state-based centres run programs designed to help people and their animals in times of crisis.* Also seek out other reputable organisations or trusted networks to ask what options may be available, as they may be able to offer advice, practical assistance, temporary support or emergency boarding that can help keep animals and their families together.

Animals play a significant role in our lives, and they deserve to be considered and prioritised

As our society and communities continue to evolve, with new ways of living, changing household structures and broader understandings of what it means to be a family, the laws, policies, and infrastructure that shape our daily lives must evolve too. With more people including pets as part of their family, even as housing becomes more complex, there is a need for practical, compassionate systems that help people and animals stay together through different stages of life and periods of difficulty. As housing pressures grow, we must ensure that the animals who share our homes and our lives are not left out of the solutions.

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