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BBC South East praises Dee Bonett and Maidstone Borough Council for their new pet policy for emergency accommodation to allow those who are homeless to take their pets with them. See BBC South East Today new report here.
We need all councils to adopt the John Chadwick Pet Policy!
In October 2021, Maidstone Borough Council introduced a policy that keeps the homeless and their pets together under one roof. We believe it should now go nationwide.
On October 5th 2021, The John Chadwick Pet Policy was introduced by Maidstone Borough Council, ensuring that those with pets who have become homeless are supported in Emergency Accommodation until suitable permanent accommodation can be found - for both the homeless person and their pet.
This new pet policy was driven by Dee Bonett, whose best friend John Chadwick died by suicide 10 days after being made homeless and separated from his beloved pets - Jack Russells, Theo and Tinkerbell, and Gizmo the cat.
Following John’s death, Dee contacted her local MP to find out why – given that we’re a nation of animal lovers – the needs of those that are homeless and have pets aren’t given more consideration.
More than four years later, thanks to a lot of persistence on Dee’s part and the support of various local Councillors, Maidstone has become the first council in England to adopt The John Chadwick Pet Policy. We’re now calling on all councils to follow Maidstone’s lead, to ensure that vulnerable people are not separated from their beloved companions.
Dee’s local MP, Helen Grant, contacted Mr Marcus Jones MP, the Minister for Local Government, whose office supplied the guidelines in place for local authorities. These showed that the Government’s commitment to reducing homelessness included endorsing accommodation that fulfilled an individual’s needs, however it simply stated: “local councils can consider pets when deciding if accommodation is suitable” - there was no obligation to ensure the homeless could keep their pets with them.
So Helen then wrote to John Littlemore, Head of Housing and Community Services at Maidstone Council, who stated that John Chadwick’s case highlighted the much wider issue that couldn’t be solved solely via the council. Nevertheless, inspired by John’s tragic death and Dee’s amazing campaign, the Communities, Housing and Environment Committee (CHEC) at Maidstone Borough Council agreed to implement a New Pet Policy for Emergency Housing in July 2018, to ensure pets would be accepted in emergency accommodation.
However, the 3rd paragraph in the Pet Policy stated that if a permanent housing offer was made with a “no pet policy”, it would not be deemed an unreasonable offer.
To Dee, all this new policy did was help a vulnerable person and their pets halfway up the ladder, getting them into emergency accommodation. But if they were then given a permanent offer, they could have to choose between taking a home without their pet/s or giving up the offer that home. And if they gave up the offer, they would then be considered to be making themselves intentionally homeless and no further help would be given.
Dee reached out to a range of experts - including Amy Varle a Housing Entrepreneur, Daniel McDonald, a Homelessness Outreach Officer from Tampa Florida, and Carolyn Powell from the charity, A Slice of Happiness – and they all agreed the clause needed to be changed. She also sent Maidstone's New Pet Policy for Emergency Accommodation to Claudia Beamish, a Scottish MP who was instrumental in launching Scotland’s own ‘Paws Clause’ campaign, asking if they could advise or assist with changing the clause in the 3rd paragraph.
Following their advice to contact a local Councillor that would support her campaign, Dee did some research and selected Councillor Malcolm McKay. He saw the logic in Dee’s request and, with his help, Dee’s request to attend the next CHEC meeting in November 2019 was accepted.
Dee read out a statement at the meeting, giving an outline of John’s experience and subsequent death, and quoted the clause from the New Pet Policy she was campaigning to amend:
“Whilst under this policy you have been permitted to home your pet(s) with you in your temporary accommodation. You may be offered accommodation to end the Council’s housing duty to you where the landlord is a housing association or private landlord. The housing provider is likely to have their own policy as to whether pets are permitted in their accommodation and the Council does not have the authority to overrule their decision. In normal circumstances, if you were to be offered accommodation where pets are not permitted, the offer of accommodation would not be considered as an unsuitable offer on the basis that your pet could not join you.”
After another round of meetings, and having secured further support from Councillor Margaret Rose, Dee suggested altering this clause via the route of a pilot scheme. And so, in August 2020, the council began to test what would happen if ‘no pets’ accommodation was turned down and housing officers were allowed to use discretionary powers regarding offers.
Following the success of this pilot scheme, Maidstone Borough Council agreed – by a unanimous vote - to amend the clause to read as follows:
"...if a tenant turned down accommodation which was either a no pet policy or not suitable for the pet, then housing officers were to use their discretionary powers to get the 2nd offer right.”
At the next CHE meeting, on 5th October 2021, two recommendations were requested from Maidstone Borough Council. The first was that The Pet Pilot Scheme for Settled Accommodation should become a permanent policy, allowing pets in emergency accommodation and ensuring a permanent home suitable for pets is found. The second was a request from Dee that it be officially named ‘The John Chadwick Pet Policy’, as a fitting tribute to the legacy of change in John’s memory.
John Littlemore, Head of Housing & Community Services at Maidstone Borough Council, explains what this new policy means for Maidstone. He said: “The policy aims to raise awareness with our staff and providers of the dilemma of people with pets who find themselves homeless. We want to help these people into more settled accommodation so they can keep pets. Traditionally, people get one offer of accommodation and that’s it, which makes it difficult if the landlord has a No Pets Policy. With the new policy, people can refuse the accommodation if it’s no good for their pets without being penalised so we can search for something more suitable.”
John said that John Chadwick’s tragic death and Dee’s positive approach inspired the change. “When someone takes their life in that way, it’s so tragic, and we wanted to understand what happened and how we can avoid this in the future. We looked at our own policy and Dee worked with us to think more deeply about the subject. She wanted to work with us rather than lay blame at our doorstep and she was very inspirational.”
The panel voted unanimously in favour of both.
