Local Law 97 mandates quarterly data collection on pet ownership among individuals entering New York City homeless shelters. The dataset aggregates survey responses by fiscal quarter, detailing pet types, placement outcomes, and client decisions. It is published by the City of New York and was last updated in March 2026.
Use Cases
- Analyze the relationship between 'Client Borough of Entry' and 'Clients Choosing to Forego Shelter' to identify geographic disparities in shelter access due to pets.
- Model the distribution of pet types surrendered using 'Number of Dogs', 'Number of Cats', and 'Number of Small Mammals' columns.
- Forecast quarterly trends in 'Clients Who Would Have Entered Shelter with Pet if allowed' using the 'Date - Quarter' and 'Date - Year' time-series features.
- Cluster client outcomes based on pet placement columns like 'Pet(s) placed with family', 'Pet(s) placed with non-profit', and 'Pet(s) surrendered to animal shelter'.
- Assess the average delay in seeking shelter by analyzing 'Chose to Forego Shelter for How Many Days (avg)' across different boroughs.
Strengths
- Data is collected under a specific city law (Local Law 97 of 2021), ensuring mandated reporting consistency.
- Provides disaggregated counts for 7 distinct pet types (e.g., Dogs, Cats, Birds, Fish).
- Includes 24 distinct columns capturing client decisions, pet placements, and demographic details.
Limitations
- The total number of client records (rows) is unknown, preventing assessment of statistical significance.
- Data is aggregated at the quarterly level, obscuring individual client-level patterns and variance.
- Relies on self-reported survey data ('Did Not Report Pet Type' column indicates potential missingness).
Provenance
- Source
- data.cityofnewyork.us
- Collection Method
- Survey responses aggregated quarterly from homeless shelter applicants, as required by Local Law 97.
- Time Range
- Quarterly data; specific start date unknown.
- Freshness
- Updated quarterly, with a recent metadata update in March 2026.
- Geography
- New York City, with borough-level breakdown (Manhattan, Brooklyn, Bronx).