Homeless woman, 62, says Greenville shelters won't accept her with companion dog

Barbara Keller's new "home" is the very thing that gets her from one place to another.

Keller became homeless on May 19 and lives in her Chevrolet Malibu with Cruz, a 3-year-old chihuahua mix.

She could sleep at a homeless shelter instead of in the driver’s seat of her car, but the 62-year-old former caregiver said homeless shelters won’t accept her with Cruz. She considers him a service dog for emotional support, but it's not that simple.

“I have Googled shelters,” she said. “I have talked to shelters. They’ll take me if I give away my dog.”

She likens that to a woman being welcomed into a shelter but being told to “take your kid, set it out there on the street, ‘cause we don’t take kids.”

 “I just don’t understand how come these shelters are like they are,” she said.

Different rules for pets and service animals

Operators of two of the Upstate’s largest homeless shelters – Salvation Army of Greenville, Pickens & Oconee counties and Miracle Hill Ministries – said service animals that are covered by the Americans with Disabilities Act must be allowed to be with their owner at all times.

The act defines a service dog as one that has been “individually trained to do work or perform tasks directly related to a person’s disability."

When it’s not obvious that a dog is a service animal, the act said the only two specific questions that can be asked are: “Is the dog a service animal required because of a disability," and “What work or task has the dog been trained to perform?"

Shelters have to accept the individual's response to both of those questions and are not allowed to ask for proof of training or proof of disability, said Rachel Wilkes, the Salvation Army's community relations and development director.

The Americans with Disabilities Act does not require service animals to be certified, and documentation is not a requirement as proof that a dog is a service animal. The act doesn’t require service animals to wear a vest, ID tag or specific harness.

Keller, who said she has a mental disability, said Cruz provides "comfort" for her. They're "like one person, even though he's an animal," she said.

“He knows when I cry, something’s wrong,” Keller said. “He knows sometimes I cry if I’m happy."

Comfort alone would not qualify a dog to be a service animal, because “they have not been trained to perform a specific job or task,” according to the Americans with Disabilities Act.

A diagnosed mental illness is a disability but emotional support dogs are not covered under the act, said Mike Teachey, a lead facilitator and director of Greenville CAN, a coalition of self advocates, service providers, and community stakeholders that work together to make the community a better place for individuals with disabilities.

Shelters make their own rules for non-service animals.

The Salvation Army doesn’t have the space for pets, Wilkes said.

“It’s strictly a human shelter, not an animal shelter as well,” she said.

Pets are one of the top three reasons that homeless individuals give for being unsheltered, Ryan Duerk, vice president of adult services for Miracle Hill Ministries, said in an email. The main reason pets are not allowed in shelters has to do with the safety of other guests, Duerk said. 

“In a shelter that provides beds for many individuals, safety measures are in place to provide a safe atmosphere for the whole group,” he said. “Pets are an unknown and uncontrollable variable if located in the shelter.”

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Woman dealing with health issues

Keller, who has been homeless before, is a single mother of three adult children. She said she’s been married four times and two of her former husbands have passed away.

Cruz, she said, has been there for her when nobody else has.

“I know he’s a dog,” she said. “He’s a four-legged animal, but that four-legged animal loves me more than anything on this earth besides my mother. She died in 2010.”

Keller uses her monthly disability check to pay her car note and cellphone bill. She said she's on medication for high blood pressure, a bipolar condition and cholesterol. Since moving into her car, she’s seen her legs and feet swell.

“My health is not going to hold up much longer,” Keller said. “And I don’t want to be found dead in my car.”

Keller and Cruz were living in a double-wide before becoming homeless. Keller said she just wants a bed, but she’s not parting with Cruz. He’s “my life.”

After a recent hospital visit, she called a list of crisis phone numbers she received while there. She said when she called shelters to ask about Cruz, they said they don't take animals.

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Other options for pet owners

Susan McLarty, Greenville Homeless Alliance coordinator, said in an email that she believes, “Greenville exhibits a willingness to work with people as well as continue to evolve in our understanding of community needs.”

For example, she said Nick Bush of United Ministries Place of Hope has played phone tag with a woman from New York who has multiple service dogs and is seeking shelter.  

Family Promise, which runs emergency shelters across Greenville County, has a relationship with Pet Smart where a pet can be cared for until the family progresses through the program to permanent housing, McLarty said. The service is provided free of charge, she said.

Miracle Hill is working toward expanding its policy to make more allotments for animals as it deals with crowded shelters. 

Reid Lehman, executive director of Greenville-based Miracle Hill, said that at one time, the organization had an arrangement with the Greenville Humane Society, which would keep pets while their owners stayed in Miracle Hill’s shelters.

“I don’t know that anyone ever took us up on that offer,” he said.

It’s rare that the Salvation Army has individuals with service animals seeking shelter, Wilkes said.

“In the event that such an occurrence takes place, we strongly emphasize that shelter living is very definitely communal living,” she said. “The individual and the animal will need to be able to peacefully exist within the dorm rooms, living spaces, bathrooms, dining hall, etc.”

Duerk said Miracle Hill occasionally gets a request for a pet to accompany its owner. Service animals are a different situation and treated differently in that the service animal performs a task for the handler, he said.

“In this situation, both the service animal and the handler have received training as part of their relationship,” Duerk said. “The handler is equipped to keep the animal under control at all times and the animals are housebroken.”