News & Events Archive

Meet the Champions of Pet-Inclusive Housing: The 2024 Pets & Housing Awards Winners!

Meet the Champions of Pet-Inclusive Housing: The 2024 Pets & Housing Awards Winners!

Pets are family, and Michelson Found Animals & the Pet-Inclusive Housing Initiative are thrilled to champion the winners of the 2024 Pets & Housing Awards! These incredible individuals & organizations are making a huge difference by creating welcoming communities for pets & their humans.

Watch the 2024 Pets & Housing Awards – Congrats to all the winners!

Watch the 2024 Pets & Housing Awards – Congrats to all the winners!

A huge round of applause to everyone who joined us for the 2024 Pets & Housing Awards – an event dedicated to celebrating the incredible organizations championing pet-inclusive housing!
Relive the excitement and get inspired by the amazing work being done across the pet-inclusive housing landscape here.

What’s the Score? Leveling Up the Rental Housing Pet Game

What’s the Score? Leveling Up the Rental Housing Pet Game

A seemingly innocuous question – ‘is your property pet-friendly?’ – becomes quite provocative viewed through the lens of a pet owner who is challenged to secure housing that accepts their large dog, welcomes their ‘restricted’ breed, or embraces pets without additional fees. The Pet-Inclusive Housing Initiative (PIHI) has developed a scorecard to help operators have more insight when answering this question; but more on that in just a bit.

Embracing the Future: Why Rental Housing Operators Must Stay Informed of Legislative Trends Toward Inclusive Dog Ownership

Embracing the Future: Why Rental Housing Operators Must Stay Informed of Legislative Trends Toward Inclusive Dog Ownership

As the housing landscape continues to evolve, so do attitudes toward pets and their place in our lives. Today, not only do more people have pets than ever before, they generally consider their furry friends to be integral members of the family; and as a result, the demand for pet-inclusive rental accommodations is on the rise.

Choosing Your Battles on the ESA Front

Choosing Your Battles on the ESA Front

There’s probably not a single rental housing operator who hasn’t felt like they’re constantly in the midst of one battle or another in the day-to-day operation of an apartment community. And lately, one of those recurring struggles is the onslaught of emotional support animal (ESA) accommodation requests from residents.

PMG Maintains Long Standing Pet-Inclusive Policies Amidst Change Management: Case Study #5

PMG Maintains Long Standing Pet-Inclusive Policies Amidst Change Management: Case Study #5

PMG Property Management is a leading multifamily housing operator focused on asset management and commercial real estate investment throughout the western United States and specializing in well-located, Class B, and Core Plus multifamily housing with high value-add upside.

Unleashing the Benefits: Exploring the Case for Easing Pet Restrictions in Apartments

Unleashing the Benefits: Exploring the Case for Easing Pet Restrictions in Apartments

Welcoming more of these cherished family members will involve reevaluating current restrictive pet policies, which typically limit size and contain multiple breed restrictions. Easing or lifting these restrictions can be beneficial for apartment operators in several ways.

Applications for The 2023 Pet Awards are Now open!

Applications for The 2023 Pet Awards are Now open!

Applications for the 2023 Pet Awards are now open! Michelson Found Animals is proud to be presenting our second annual Pet Awards at the Apartment Innovation & Marketing Conference on Tuesday, May 9, in Huntington Beach, CA. This event is your opportunity to showcase what you have done to build pet-inclusive communities.

Keeping Pets and People Together, the Pet-Inclusive Housing Initiative is Leading the Way with the Housing Industry’s Best

Keeping Pets and People Together, the Pet-Inclusive Housing Initiative is Leading the Way with the Housing Industry’s Best

Meet the PIHI team and some of today's industry leaders interviewed here, including Oculus Realty and The Management Group, and learn how easing restrictions and becoming more pet-friendly leads to better business and happier communities. The Pet-Inclusive Housing...

J.C. Hart Expands Pet Inclusivity and Adoption Awareness: Case Study #3

J.C. Hart Expands Pet Inclusivity and Adoption Awareness: Case Study #3

Indiana-based multifamily housing operator, J.C. Hart Company, earned the most successful pet-adoption event award at the inaugural Michelson Found Animals 2022 AIM Pet Awards. Most J.C. Hart properties currently have no breed and weight restrictions, and the company has a measured approach to becoming completely pet-inclusive and spreading awareness about adopting pets.

Summertime, and the Living is . . . Well, Sometimes Challenging for Our Pets

Summertime, and the Living is . . . Well, Sometimes Challenging for Our Pets

Summer is almost upon us and that means rising temps, pools and cookouts, fireworks displays and afternoon storms . . . which also means making sure our beloved pets are safely enjoying a season that can present some particular challenges. Here are some tips for keeping our furry friends in mind over the summer months.

Case Study #1: The Management Group, Presented by The Pet Inclusive Housing Initiative

Case Study #1: The Management Group, Presented by The Pet Inclusive Housing Initiative

The Management Group (TMG), an Atlanta-based multifamily property management firm, aspired to become one of the most pet-inclusive operators in the Southeast United States. By eliminating breed and weight restrictions, adopting innovative pet technology resources, and elevating pet-friendliness to its full potential, TMG’s revamp of pet policies has led to a tremendous 80% renewal rate among pet-owning residents. 

From Pet-Friendly to Pet-Inclusive: Michelson Found Animals Foundation Presents the 2022 Pet Awards

From Pet-Friendly to Pet-Inclusive: Michelson Found Animals Foundation Presents the 2022 Pet Awards

While most rental housing operators consider themselves pet-friendly, about the same number of renters find it difficult to locate pet-friendly housing, according to the national 2021 Pet-Inclusive Housing Initiative report. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vUbxrcbt6I4...

Growing Resident Retention with Pet-Inclusive Rental Housing

Growing Resident Retention with Pet-Inclusive Rental Housing

In Season 3, Episode 1 of  The Leasing Highway Podcast (hosted by the Apartment Association of Metro Denver), Michelson Found Animals’ Industry Principal Judy Bellack and Jamin Harkness, former Executive VP and Partner of The Management Group (TMG), joined the series to discuss the benefits of pet-inclusive housing and how rental owners and operators can grow resident retention by alleviating restrictions such as breed and weight restrictions for pets.

A Year of Impact in Animal Welfare and Educational Equity and Setting Priorities for 2022

A Year of Impact in Animal Welfare and Educational Equity and Setting Priorities for 2022

The Pet-Inclusive Housing Initiative launched with the publication of a major research report in partnership with the Human Animal Bond Research Institute, which led to Congressman Adam Schiff and a group of bipartisan congressional leaders introducing a bill supporting eliminating breed restrictions in public housing. The bill is called the “Pets Belong with Families Act.”

MFA’s Judy Bellack Discusses Pet-Inclusive Housing on SullivanSays Podcast

MFA’s Judy Bellack Discusses Pet-Inclusive Housing on SullivanSays Podcast

Michelson Found Animals Foundation (MFA), together with the Human Animal Bond Research Institute (HABRI), recently released their Pet-Inclusive Housing Initiative (PIHI) report, which found that rental housing owner-operators can benefit financially from enacting more pet-inclusive policies for their tenants.

Congress Members Cite MFA’s Pet-Inclusive Housing Initiative Report in Introducing the ‘Pets Belong with Families Act’

Congress Members Cite MFA’s Pet-Inclusive Housing Initiative Report in Introducing the ‘Pets Belong with Families Act’

Representatives Adam Schiff (D-CA), Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA), Lauren Underwood (D-IL), and Cori Bush (D-MO) cited Michelson Found Animals Foundation’s recent Pet-Inclusive Housing Initiative (PIHI) report today when introducing a new bill to Congress that would allow families to keep their beloved pets in the home by prohibiting vague and sweeping restrictions against dogs based on breed or size.

Rental Housing Owners Can Attract and Retain More Residents by Adopting Pet-Inclusive Policies, According to New Report

Rental Housing Owners Can Attract and Retain More Residents by Adopting Pet-Inclusive Policies, According to New Report

The vast majority of pet-owning residents and property owners and managers agree that pets are important members of the family, but progress is still needed when it comes to extending that sentiment to pet-inclusive policies for rental housing, according to a new data-rich report from the Human Animal Bond Research Institute (HABRI) and Michelson Found Animals Foundation.