ESA Law & Fraud Prevention — A 360° Municipal View

HUD’s September 2025 withdrawal of all Emotional Support Animal (ESA) guidance created a regulatory vacuum, placing municipalities as the primary arbiters of reasonable accommodation requests. This shift exposes local governments to significant legal and ethical risks. This program delivers the first comprehensive, post-HUD playbook for municipal attorneys. It provides a unified framework to navigate fair housing obligations, emerging state anti-fraud laws, and professional ethics— transforming a compliance challenge into a defensible risk-management strategy. Participants will master the ‘Safe Harbor 2.0 Model,’ a defensible protocol that bridges federal and state law. Drawing on cross-disciplinary expertise, the program provides the practical tools—from fraud detection to ethical verification—needed to confidently manage ESA issues while protecting public trust and disability rights.

Core Disciplines Covered:

• Law: Federal (FHA/§504) and state frameworks; preemption risks and enforcement trends.
• Operations: Cross-departmental implementation strategies for PHAs, HR, and Animal Control.
• Practice Tools: Fraud detection, defensible scripting, and verification workflows.
• Ethics: Clinical documentation standards (Younggren Model) and attorney ethics (ABA Rules 4.1, 3.1, 8.4).

Speaker: Chaz Stevens, Cherie Dimmerling, Rigo Armas, Joel Touchet & Teresa Martinez