Nokomis resident’s companion animal raises pet concerns


Pat Paverud, Nokomis resident, attended the Housing and Redevelopment Authority’s (HRA) December meeting to discuss the pet policy and her need to take her dog with her everywhere she went.
Paverud has a companion animal, Babi, a Maltese-Poodle mix, to help her with mental health issues.
Paverud said her psychiatrist gave her permission to have a pet and that Baby is a service animal, which enables her to take him wherever she goes.
“Wherever I go he can go,” she said. “It’s been wonderful. He’s gone into restaurants and grocery stores. I don’t know where he hasn’t been.”
However, concerns have been raised about Paverud bringing her dog into the laundry room and other public areas in the Nokomis property due to residents who have pet allergies. However, Paverud stated that her dog is non-shedding.
Paverud researched the Housing and Urban Development’s Fair Housing Act policy on service animals, which includes regulations for residents who have service and/or assistance animals. The definition of assistance animals in the Fair Housing Act is an animal that works, provides assistance, or performs tasks for the benefit of a person with a disability, or provides emotional support that alleviates symptoms or effects of a person’s disability.
The policy on service and assistant animals states that people with disabilities must be permitted to live with and use assistance animals in all areas of the premises where persons are normally allowed to go.
Other people in attendance of the meeting spoke both for and against allowing Paverud to bring her dog with her throughout the entire building.
Board chair Mitch Reynolds thanked those who attended the meeting to share their concerns and requested that Tammy Manderscheid, HRA executive director find out what the government definition of a service animal would be, as Nokomis is part of a federal housing authority and would be required to abide by that definition.