Finding a pet friendly apartment anywhere can be a real challenge, but perhaps no place more than in New York City.  For some people, opting to get rid of their pet is the hard choice they make, but for those that need emotional support animals, that simply is not an option.  With obstacles like high costs and landlords unwilling to make accommodations, this is a very real problem for a lot of people. This is where ESADoctors.com steps in and can help you keep your animal.

Pet Friendly Apartments in New York

When you talk about apartments in New York, there are a few neighborhoods that immediately come to mind.  Those include the Upper East Side, Brooklyn, Long Island City, SoHo, Chelsea, and the West Village.  The hard truth is the more likely a neighborhood is to be in high demand, the higher the cost and the more restrictions you’ll come across in your search.  A pet friendly apartment in Astoria often starts at over $2200 per month for a studio space and that doesn’t even take into account the high pet deposits.  Apartments in the areas of Midtown, Park Slope, Williamsburg, and East Village will run even higher. By the time you add in deposits, apartments even in Greenpoint, Bushwick, or the Upper West Side may become completely out of the budget consideration for many.  For those that can afford it, the limited options for apartments often make for some very unexpected practices such as offering double rent or paying triple deposits to try to get an animal accepted into the building.  Unfortunately, a few unscrupulous landlords may well take advantage of those who need an emotional support animal to line their own pockets in those areas where pet accommodating housing is in the shortest supply. There is a small light at the end of the tunnel.  Even apartments that do not allow pets, must allow a service animal and emotional support animals.

Getting an Emotional Support Animal Letter

If you want to avoid high costs and unfair discrimination, you can contact ESADoctors.com to get an emotional support animal letter (ESA Letter). The process is simple and utilizes tele-health services. You fill out their brief ESA Questionnaire and a licensed therapist will be in touch with your shortly after. Read more about how to get an ESA letter here.

Please do keep in mind though that having an emotional support animal does not give your companion a license to be a nuisance.  Landlords can still ask you to leave if your ESA becomes a disturbance to others in the building and you can’t let your animal cause damages.  That is also grounds for asking you to move.

There is also a chance that neighbors will not feel you really need a support animal and are just using the system to bring pets into a no pet building.  They may not know what a very real medical condition mental health issues are.  Not everyone understands that as many as 1 in 5 or 20% of the US population have some sort of mental illness and that not all disabilities are something you can see.  This can make for hostile living conditions and unwarranted complaints to the landlord.  These types of obstacles may even increase the need for your emotional support animal since stressors like these can cause additional anxiety attacks even in those who generally have their symptoms well under control and appear to be a “perfectly normal” person.

Living with Your Emotional Support Animal in an Apartment

Those who need emotional support or other service animals understand how real even invisible disabilities are.  These animals become vital to the survival of those people.  The people who need them need to know that there are apartments available to them, in every part of New York from Astoria to the West Village.  They need to know they can find a great apartment without being pushed into situations that are more than a little questionable.  Knowing your rights as a person with a disability can go a long way in making sure you and your assistance animal find the right home.  After all, home is where you are supposed to be most at ease.

To qualify for an emotional support animal letter please contact ESADoctors.com. They will pair you with a top mental health professional and secure the legal documents for you to live with your dog, cat, or other animal.