After sleeping in his car for a week, Marine Corps veteran Ricky Dennis arrived at a Maricopa County animal shelter expecting to surrender his three senior dogs. Housing restrictions had left him unable to use an existing voucher without separating from them.
At the shelter, Dennis met Nora Hoguin, a Shelter Diversion Navigator with Maricopa County Animal Care and Control. Her intervention changed the outcome that same day: Dennis secured an apartment where all three dogs could live with him.
Dennis already had a housing voucher, but he had not found a place that allowed pets. Hoguin made calls on his behalf and connected him with the City of Phoenix’s homeless liaison and Community Bridges, a local nonprofit.
“They did it that morning, that night I was in an apartment,” Dennis said. He said he was asked to provide paperwork establishing that the animals belonged to him.
The dogs did not enter the shelter. Instead, they moved into the apartment with Dennis, turning an anticipated surrender into a housing placement for the entire household.
What shelter diversion can do
Shelter diversion seeks to address the immediate problem pushing an owner toward surrender before the animal enters a shelter. In Dennis’s case, the obstacle was not a stated desire to give up his dogs. It was the absence of housing he had found that would accept them.
Hoguin said her job is to help people and their pets remain together. She also identified pet restrictions and animal-care costs as reasons people experiencing homelessness may believe surrender is their only option.
The approach depends on identifying the specific barrier and connecting the person with organizations positioned to address it. Maricopa County says its broader homeless-services network works through contracted partners offering outreach, navigation, case management, shelter operations, rental assistance and bridge housing.
That coordination matters because animal shelters generally cannot resolve a housing crisis by themselves. A navigator, however, may be able to connect an owner with housing or social-service contacts while also exploring temporary arrangements for the pets.
Housing-related surrender is not limited to one household. A study of intake records from 21 U.S. animal shelters between 2019 and 2023 found that 14% of animal relinquishments during that period involved housing-related reasons, according to a summary from the National Low Income Housing Coalition.
The study considered several types of housing pressure, including pet restrictions, landlord issues, housing loss and homelessness. Among pets relinquished by owners experiencing homelessness, 4% eventually returned to their owners, the analysis found.
Local options can extend beyond permanent housing
Not every crisis will produce an apartment in one day. Maricopa County’s pet housing resources identify programs offering temporary foster care or boarding for qualifying families facing circumstances such as housing loss, hospitalization, domestic violence or military deployment.
The listed options vary by program. Some offer temporary care intended to reunite pets with their families after a crisis, while others focus on veterans, active-duty service members or people who need short-term boarding assistance.
The Arizona Pet Project also describes local assistance for people experiencing homelessness with pets. Its services may include connections to safe shelter or housing, along with pet food, supplies, veterinary care and temporary boarding.
These resources do not establish that every owner or animal will qualify for help. They do show why asking about diversion and temporary-care programs before surrender can open possibilities beyond immediate separation.
For Dennis, the decisive information was that he already had a voucher but needed housing that would include his dogs. Hoguin’s calls brought the housing and animal-welfare sides of the crisis together quickly enough to keep all four members of the household under one roof. What would you do if your dog were in this situation? Share your thoughts in the comments.
By Sarah Mitchell — 8 years as a local-news reporter covering animal welfare, shelters, neighborhood disputes, and public-safety pet stories.
