Christine Kim | Changing the Rules for People Experiencing Homelessness with Pets
Christine Kim | Changing the Rules for People Experiencing Homelessness with Pets
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In this episode of the Top Dog Podcast, Christine Kim, Founder and Executive Director of My Dog Is My Home, shares how her background in housing, homelessness, and social work led her to confront a problem that had largely been overlooked: people experiencing homelessness were often forced to choose between accessing essential services and staying with their pets.
Christine understood immediately why someone would refuse to leave behind an animal who had become their closest source of companionship and support. But she also saw how the “no pets allowed” policies common in shelters and housing programs could prevent people from accessing the services they needed.
“I was just trying to help a person who had a dog get into housing.”
That simple effort eventually became something much bigger. My Dog Is My Home began as a storytelling exhibition, giving people experiencing homelessness an opportunity to share their relationships with their animals through photographs, art, writing, and personal stories.
“We just wanted to raise awareness around it.”
Christine quickly discovered that storytelling could do more than change how other people viewed homelessness and pet ownership. It could also empower the people whose stories were being told by giving them an opportunity to speak about their own lives and experiences.
But changing perceptions was only the beginning. Christine realized that once people understood the problem, there needed to be practical ways to change the systems creating the barriers.
“Once we were able to successfully change the narrative, like how we materially actually help people get the services that they need.”
Today, My Dog Is My Home works nationally across five major program areas: storytelling, community building, technical assistance, advocacy, and research. The organization works directly with nonprofits to help them develop more pet-inclusive policies and practices.
One of the organization’s most important ideas is that pet-inclusive services don’t have to be invented from scratch. Christine and her team identify organizations already doing this work successfully and help others learn from their approaches.
“It’s like open source, you know, it’s like here, just let’s just share what we know.”
Christine’s work has also involved challenging assumptions on both sides of the issue. Early on, she encountered people in housing and homeless services who didn’t believe people experiencing homelessness had pets, while some in animal welfare believed those individuals were incapable of caring for their animals.
“There was this pervasive judgment around people that had lower incomes, that didn’t have physical homes, that they were not, you know, fit caregivers for animals.”
Over the past decade, Christine has seen a significant shift. Housing providers are increasingly recognizing that pets are part of the housing equation, while animal welfare organizations are recognizing that keeping pets with their people can prevent animals from entering shelters in the first place.
“We have a vested interest in keeping animals out of the animal shelter.”
At the heart of My Dog Is My Home’s approach is centering the voices of people with lived experience. Rather than deciding what people need and building programs around those assumptions, Christine believes organizations should listen first.
“Why are we even doing this if we’re not centering the voices of people with lived experience?”
That philosophy extends to the organization’s research and advocacy work. My Dog Is My Home is working to better understand what pet-inclusive homeless services actually look like, what they cost, and what practices organizations can use to successfully keep people and their animals together.
Christine’s advice to other changemakers is surprisingly simple: trust your instincts. When she started My Dog Is My Home, she didn’t have a business plan for building a national nonprofit. She simply knew that something was wrong and felt compelled to do something about it.
“I think I would tell myself to trust my instincts a little bit more.”
She also learned that an organization doesn’t need to imitate a larger, more established nonprofit to be successful. My Dog Is My Home has grown by staying grounded in its values, remaining flexible, and following its North Star.
“You’re a pretty good version of what you are.”
At its core, this episode is about challenging assumptions and recognizing that a pet can be an essential part of a person’s path toward stability, safety, and home. Christine’s work demonstrates that housing and animal welfare don’t have to be separate issues. When organizations make room for both people and their pets, they can create better outcomes for everyone.
“We just want people and their animals to be in housing together.”
If you’re passionate about helping animals, join the Doobert community where volunteers, fosters, transporters, and organizations work together to save lives every day. Visit Doobert.com to get involved.
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Do you know any Top Dogs we should interview? We’re always looking for amazing people in animal welfare to feature on the podcast. Send us an email at tdp@doobert.com.
