Emotional Support Animal Oregon: Your Ultimate Guide

Yes, Oregon recognizes emotional support animals (ESAs). However, Oregon itself has no state laws identifying ESAs or addressing the need for them. Instead, they follow federal laws.

Such emotional support animal Oregon federal laws include the Federal Fair Housing Act (FHA), the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), and the Air Carrier Access Act (ACAA). They protect the ESA owners in housing, employment, and air travel.

Some laws protect ESAs in specific scenarios in Oregon, such as the legal requirement for public accommodations to be made in public places and housing providers.

Most of the emotional support animal Oregon laws, however, are federal laws that protect ESAs and service animals on a very broad scale.

Psychiatric service animals are protected in the same way service animals are as they are trained to perform specific tasks like a guide dog is trained to help a blind person navigate.

The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and the Fair Housing Act require housing providers to allow ESAs regardless of their pet policy or breed restrictions.

Landlords cannot charge pet fees or pet deposits but may require tenants to pay a higher security deposit and reimbursement for damages the animal causes.

Oregon disability laws and the ADA stipulate that a person with a disability is allowed to bring a trained service animal to work. Still, emotional support animals are not protected to this extent.

Instead, it is up to the employer to determine on a case-by-case basis whether or not an ESA is allowed.

There are no emotional support animal Oregon state laws addressing ESAs in travel but the ACAA, a federal law prohibiting discrimination in air travel, allows trained service dogs to board flights while not allowing ESAs the same freedom.

This is because the law was updated in 2021 to allow airlines to choose whether or not to allow ESAs on their flights. All of the major United States airlines have changed their policies to no longer recognize ESAs as service animals.

Instead, they are viewed as companion or assistance animals and recognized as regular pets. This means to bring an ESA on a flight you must board them as a pet and pay the required pet fees.

According to emotional support animal Oregon laws, ESAs are not permitted to onboard public transportation.

Oregon law only protects service animals on public transit and classifies ESAs as comfort animals, so they are required to follow laws for pets rather than laws in place for service animals.

Wondering how to get an emotional support animal in Oregon? Start by seeing a licensed mental health professional (LMPH) for a qualifying mental illness or emotional disability diagnosis.

This can be anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder, or panic attacks, but the animal will have to provide a therapeutic aid in the symptoms of the disability. Based on the findings, the LMPH will write you an ESA letter.

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To make a dog an emotional support dog, you must get an emotional support animal letter. This letter will make your dog an ESA, but an LMHP will only write it if they deem a companion animal helpful with the specific diagnosed disability.

To receive an ESA letter, you will have to see an LMHP in most cases, however, in some scenarios, a social worker or physician can write it as well. The easiest way to do this is to go through an online service like certapet.com that will match you with an LMHP who can make a diagnosis and write an ESA letter.

The letter will be on professional letterhead and include the LMHP’s license number and contact information. Be aware of scam websites offering letters without needing to see a therapist. These sites often say things like “get your pet certified” or “register your pet as an ESA,” but neither of these is necessary.

There is no such thing as an ESA certification or registration, and the letter you receive from them is not a legal document and will not hold up in court.

Yes, based on emotional support animal Oregon regulations you need to inform your landlord of your ESA.

The landlord can require the ESA letter your LMHP had written for you beforehand as proof the animal is an ESA. Without this, there may be legal ramifications for ESA owners who fail to inform their landlords of the ESA.

Yes, a landlord can deny an ESA but only in specific scenarios.

Based on emotional support animal Oregon regulations, a landlord can deny accommodations if the animal poses a direct threat to the safety of others, a landlord is permitted to allow the ESA in the building no longer.

Also, if the reasonable accommodations would present a significant financial burden or the accommodations would be too altering to the building, the landlord is permitted not to allow ESAs.

To ensure this does not happen to you, it is important to file an accommodation request in advance to allow time to determine if accommodations can be made.

Yes, a person can have multiple ESAs.

There are no emotional support animal Oregon rules limiting the number of ESAs per owner. However, each animal must serve a specific purpose and have a letter from an LMHP declaring it an emotional support animal.

There are also no restrictions to the type of animal an ESA can be, but it must provide a therapeutic purpose and help with a disability-related need.