A pet-friendly homeless shelter pilot reduced the rate of homelessness among the people it helped in California

A University of Southern California evaluation found that California's Pet Assistance and Support Program helped 4,407 homeless people keep their pets while receiving shelter services, with 886 ultimately moving into permanent housing with their animals. The $15.75 million pilot program, which ran from 2020 to 2024 and funded 37 organizations statewide, achieved a higher success rate for housing placement than California's overall average for homeless individuals. Despite the program's success, the share of homeless people with pets in Los Angeles increased from roughly 1 in 8 before the pandemic to about 1 in 5 by 2025. The research team found that nearly half of homeless pet owners had previously been turned away from shelters that couldn't accommodate their animals. The findings suggest California needs to expand pet-friendly homeless programs on a larger scale to address the growing number of unhoused individuals with pets.