My Story Begins when Jasper came to Rhyl street in early 2020, I noticed Jasper roaming the street and seemed homeless. I began calling him and fussing him, and eventually, he started returning more often, I then began to feed and spend time with him.
After a while he began to trust me and began to come to my living room window where I sat and purred to let me know he was there, I like to have my window open throughout the day and Jasper began to sit on my window from letting me stroke him.
After a while, Jasper built up his confidence and started jumping in through my window to see me and would curl up on my lap. At this point, I became attached to Jasper and decided to adopt him in late 2020.
In early 2021 I was informed by my support that pets were not permitted in the building as part of my tenancy, I decided to reach out to Progress Housing to seek advice on this and explain to them that Jasper helps with my mental health and his comfort keeps me calm.
When I reached out to Progress Housing, they explained to me that pets are not permitted within my tenancy and that they could not allow me to keep Jasper as a pet, this really affected my mental health and made me really upset.
Mid 2021, I got my mental health team involved and explained to them what was happening and asked if they could reach out to progress and explain to them the importance of Jasper in regards to my mental health. The mental health team did this for me and Progress again informed me that there was nothing they could do and that if I continued to keep Jasper as a pet there housing officer would have to come out to speak to me in person. I believed this was a risk worth taking as I wanted to show them how well-behaved Jasper was and how his presence had a positive effect on my mental health.
Due to reports from progress employees on their visit to Rhyl street they informed progress housing that I still had Jasper as a pet in early 2022. I got a letter from progress arranging a visit from the housing officer, in June 2022 the housing officer came out to see me and Jasper, upon arrival the housing officer informed me of my tenancy agreement and went through protocol, I then informed the housing that Jasper has lived with me for nearly 2 years and he has not caused any issues to my flat or any other residents.
Jasper comes and goes through my window and does not go in the communal areas, Jasper has helped me through the loss of family and when my mental health gets bad Jasper is always there to comfort me which helps me cope.
The housing officer took all this into consideration and informed me that she would speak to her manager in regards to getting their decision overturned, I waited a few weeks, and then I received a letter from progress stating that they have decided to overturn their decision and are allowing me to keep Jasper as a pet. But they will be doing routine checks to make sure that I keep my home safe and clean for myself and Jasper.
This was the best news ever and I couldn't be happier it took two years but just shows if you believe and don’t give up you can achieve your goal.
