‘Pets are family’: why Big Issue and Animal Friends are fighting to keep people and their animals together

When someone loses their home, they tend to lose almost everything that gave their life shape – their routine, their relationships, their sense of being seen. What they often refuse to lose is the dog asleep beside them. And too often, the system makes them choose.

Across the UK, people are turned away from hostels and emergency accommodation because they have an animal with them. The choice they’re handed is brutally simple: take the bed and give up your companion, or keep your companion and stay on the street. Most choose the street.

That injustice is the reason Street Paws launched its No One Left Outside campaign, and the reason Big Issue, along with Animal Friends Pet Insurance, are fully supporting the campaign.

Anyone who doubts what’s at stake should listen to the vendors who live it. Plymouth seller Clive Rowe credits his 17-year-old terrier, Geezer, with pulling him through 23 years of street homelessness and addiction.

“He saved my life, basically,” Clive says. “He anchored me. Otherwise any number of things would have been too much.”

That is not sentiment dressed up as argument. It’s a plain description of how a person stays alive – and it’s precisely the bond that a no-pets policy severs.

Street Paws estimates that around one in four people experiencing homelessness has a pet, though the charity is honest that the data isn’t properly collected and the true figure could be higher. Either way, that’s thousands of people for whom an animal is the last dependable thing in a life that’s come apart – and thousands of animals are at risk of being given up not because they aren’t loved, but because loving them is treated as a barrier to a roof.

What we’re asking for

The campaign’s request is simple and practical. It wants the government to update the Social Housing Consumer Standards so that shelters and temporary accommodation can no longer turn people away simply for having a pet, except where a risk assessment shows it genuinely isn’t safe. Not a blanket right to bring any animal anywhere – just an end to blanket bans.

It’s a modest, sensible change that would stop needless separations and remove one of the reasons people refuse help and stay outside in the first place.

It’s an idea gaining real traction. No One Left Outside was taken to parliament earlier last month, where MPs from across the political divide backed it alongside vets, animal welfare experts and celebrity supporters including Ricky Gervais.

The mood suggested something frontline workers have known for years is finally being heard: that ending homelessness shouldn’t come at the expense of a human-animal bond.

Why pets are so important to our vendors

For Big Issue, the cause is close to home. Our vendors know better than most what an animal can be when life is precarious: not a burden, but a colleague who turns up every day without judgement, a conversation starter, a reason to get out of bed.

The dog at a vendor’s pitch is one of the most powerful sights on any British high street, and Big Issue’s own work with Animal Friends, from the red dog tabards now worn by vendors’ dogs nationwide to support for StreetVet’s free care for homeless people’s pets, is built on exactly that understanding: that looking after animals and looking after people are usually the same job.

That principle is what makes Animal Friends a natural supporter here. As of January 2026, they have donated more than £10 million to animal welfare charities and conservation projects worldwide, including £1m a year to organisations such as Blue Cross, StreetVet and Born Free.

Backing No One Left Outside extends that commitment to the people whose pets are most at risk, and who have the least power to fight for them.

Ben Pryce, Chief Operating Officer at Animal Friends, said: “We welcome the momentum created by the recent wider changes introduced through the Renters’ Rights Act, but there is still urgent work to do in the public sector to ensure people experiencing homelessness are not forced to choose between safe accommodation and staying with their pets.

“Far too many people in temporary accommodation face unnecessary barriers because of pet restrictions, despite the vital role companion animals play in emotional wellbeing, stability and recovery.

“We believe governmental policy must reflect the reality of people’s lives and support more compassionate, inclusive housing solutions that help keep people and their pets together

“At Animal Friends, we believe governmental policy must reflect the reality of people’s lives and support more compassionate, inclusive housing solutions that help keep people and their pets together.”

The fix here isn’t complicated or expensive. It doesn’t need new buildings or vast budgets – just a change in the rules, and in the lazy assumption that pets and shelter can’t go together.

Get that right and you don’t only keep an animal off the street, you keep a person off it too.

As the campaigners put it: no one should be left outside simply because they wouldn’t leave their best friend behind.

You can sign the No One Left Outside petition here. Once you’ve signed, remember to confirm via the email you’re sent, otherwise your signature won’t count.

Do you have a story to tell or opinions to share about this? Get in touch and tell us more. 

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