Letters to the Editor: Forcing all rentals to be pet-friendly would make a lot of tenants miserable

To the editor: Brett Yates believes we can alleviate the housing crisis by making all rentals pet-friendly. He makes an unsupported claim about the low frequency of pet-caused damage; his claim of an average of $210 in repairs is ludicrous.

A typical one-bedroom unit can't be professionally cleaned for that. Furthermore, tenants do not keep their pets in their apartments. Cats spray other tenants' front doors. Pets defecate in common areas. Dogs often bark when alone, bothering everyone in the building except their owners.

Yates believes that pet owners should have no restrictions. So, every apartment should be able to have, say, two dogs and four cats? He lives in a fantasy world where all pets and their owners are well-behaved.

With insurance companies already leaving the state, what happens to a property owner's policy when a pet bites another tenant? Why should the owner have to pay more for insurance because someone wants a pet?

There are valid reasons people want to live in housing without pets. For example, renters with allergies need access to pet-free housing (excepting actual service animals). My husband is allergic to animal dander. He cannot stay in a hotel room that had a pet in it.

Yates' sympathy extends only to pet owners. But in communal living situations, there are many people who understandably cannot tolerate close proximity to pets.

Pier Avirom, Whittier

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To the editor: Your op-ed article about the need for pet-friendly housing policies could have mentioned specifically that at the city of L.A.'s Chesterfied Square animal shelter, there are about 500 dogs in a facility with only 220 cages.

There, I and a few others spent a few days recently trying to save one of these dogs, who had been at the shelter for more than 300 days because his family moved away. He was 2 years old, friendly, trained and a staff and volunteer favorite.

He had been red-tagged and cleared to be euthanized within 48 hours. Fortunately, someone stepped up at the last minute to adopt him. There are hundreds more just like him just languishing and waiting.

In addition to supporting pet-inclusive housing, consider foster or adoption before purchase, spay and neuter your pets, and support anti-breeding laws. This is a crisis that shelters alone cannot solve.

Melissa Klaskin Levy, Los Angeles

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To the editor: Yates needs to meet the real world. He demands that all renters have the right to bring a dog home. I am sure he has never before been faced with a yapping animal all day while the owner is away.

Apartment living by definition is many people sharing a confined space. However, plenty of dog owners show no concern or respect for others, allowing their animals to diminish tenants' quality of life.

This is a real problem in my neighborhood; perhaps Yates has a different experience around his home.

Lee Meister, San Pedro

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.