Do you have a disability and live in rental housing? Do you have a large breed of dog as a trained assistance animal, and your landlord will not let you have your trained assistance animal? Are you having a hard time finding housing because of your trained assistance animal? Have you run into issues having guests visit with their trained assistance animals? Come learn basics about trained assistance animals in rental housing with Pine Tree Legal Assistance. (Not for individual advice; for legal question reach out - https://ptla.org/contact-us.)"

Pine Tree Legal Assistance (PTLA) is a nonprofit law firm whose mission is to ensure that state and federal laws affecting poor people are upheld, while also addressing the systemic barriers to justice faced by Mainers with low incomes. To achieve our mission, we provide free civil legal assistance in cases where it can make a difference in one’s ability to meet one’s basic human needs or in enforcing one’s basic human rights, including access to housing, food, income, safety, education, and healthcare. PTLA serves more than 6,000 individuals and families each year through direct legal assistance and more than one million people through its popular websites.

Neal (they/them) is Pine Tree’s Fair Housing Testing, Outreach, and Education Coordinator. That work includes coordinating investigations into systemic housing discrimination statewide, in addition to outreach and education efforts about housing discrimination. From February 2022 until February 2025, Neal was Pine Tree’s Fair Housing Enforcement Attorney directly representing Pine Tree clients in administrative and court actions to enforce federal and state fair housing laws. Neal graduated from Bates College with a degree in Women’s Studies and earned their law degree at New York Law School. A practicing attorney for over 17 years, neal litigated cases when in private practice and has substantial experience enforcing fair housing laws in Maine. Prior to joining the Fair Housing Unit at Pine Tree, they worked at the Maine Human Rights Commission for over seven and half years investigating discrimination complaints, including housing discrimination complaints.