Finding an apartment in Evanston may soon become less complicated for dog owners as the city’s Human Services Committee requested city staff to write an ordinance prohibiting housing providers from banning certain dog breeds.
Councilmember Devon Reid brought the ordinance to the committee’s attention and said the ordinance should still allow housing providers to restrict what dogs are allowed on their property. He said these restrictions should be by categories such as size rather than breed.
“There’s no evidence that I’ve seen that would lend us to banning specific breeds rather than sizes of dogs,” Reid said.
Animal Warden Perry Kubala backed Reid’s claims, saying there’s no evidence to support breed restrictions from limiting violence or damage.
“The evidence shows that breed is not directly related to the behavior that a dog has,” Kubala said.
Evanston will also be considering a new element to its dog licensing process. Health and Human Services Director Ike Ogbo suggested the committee recommend language to the dog licensing to include vaccinations. The dog breed ban and specific license vaccinations will be included in the ordinance’s first draft, which is expected to go before the committee in July.
While not in this wave of dog-related policy reform, Reid told the committee he plans on bringing forth a proposal to license dog owners rather than specific dogs in the near future.
Corey Schmidt is a freelance reporter with Pioneer Press.
