HSUS provides floor plans for the construction of small shelters

Through their work with local organizations around the country, The HSUS’s team of sheltering experts has identified a problem common to many rural communities: facilities that are so outdated and dilapidated that they often do not meet even the basic requirements of a humane shelter.

Antiquated buildings in poor communities often preclude modern approaches to animal care, animal handling, and client services. Without a lobby or a front desk, staff are unable to greet and assist the public. Improper or nonexistent housing for cats, outdated construction materials, and poor kennel layouts make careful cleaning and disease prevention all but impossible.

Local leaders are often aware of the need for renovation or reconstruction, but rural areas usually aren’t home to shelter design experts—and even if such architectural specialists were available, the communities most in need of help wouldn’t be able to afford their services.

© Whim Whams Illustration Studio

To assist communities struggling with these circumstances, The HSUS has worked with Gates Hafen Cochrane Architects to devise three floor plans that interested agencies can pass along to local architects. Conceived with the realities of smaller shelters in mind, each plan allows for improved animal care procedures without requiring large expansions in square footage. (Vast increases in space would necessitate the hiring of additional staff, but funding for new employees is especially hard to come by in cash-strapped communities.)

The proposed plans include dog runs with guillotine doors in the middle—an arrangement that enables staff to clean each side without spraying animals housed in the runs; the setup also encourages proper disinfection because staff can allow chemicals to sit for the time specified on bottle labels prior to rinsing. The designs provide space for cats and puppies to be housed away from adult dogs, quarantine areas to separate unhealthy or aggressive animals from the general population, and office space for adoptions and reclaims.

HSUS staff hope that these blueprints, along with an accompanying packet on building and designing a shelter, will allow counties and agencies with limited budgets to build facilities that provide the creature and people comforts necessary to humane sheltering. For more information, contact The HSUS’s Animal Sheltering Issues staff at 202-452-1100 or asi@hsus.org.