| Apartments Enabling Better Coexistence Between People and Pets Being Built One after Another! |
Revised, Expanded Edition of Textbook, "Living
with Dogs and Cats in Multi-Unit Housing — Together with Companion
Animals," Now Complete! Free Distribution to Recommence in Late
April.
Ten thousand
copies of the revised, expanded edition of the well-received textbook,
"Living with Dogs and Cats in Multi-Unit Housing — Together with
Companion Animals," have been completed. Beginning in late April,
they will be distributed free of charge. People who live in multi-unit
housing and are interested in keeping a pet, or people who want
a textbook for a lecture class or reference material for drawing
up pet-keeping regulations, are invited to apply to the Companion
Animal Information and Research Center (CAIRC) to receive this textbook.
The revised, expanded edition is packed with new information, and
its contents have been extensively rewritten so as to be even easier
to read.
This textbook was originally published last February,
as part of the Center's efforts to foster better relationships between
people and pets. By the end of the year, there were few left in
stock, and to those who requested a copy this year, we have so far
unfortunately been unable to comply. However, the large response
to this textbook has given us at CAIRC a renewed appreciation of
the great interest that exists in how people and animals should
live together.
In the past year the textbook has been distributed
to numerous dog and cat owners, companies, organizations, and more,
and has been used in both training classes and lecture classes.
The breakdown of its recipients is: 805 general applicants (pet
owners), 541 apartment management companies, 398 construction and
real estate companies, 308 animal-related organizations, 215 government
bodies, 145 residential unions at multi-unit housing, 46 veterinarians
and veterinary associations, and 240 miscellaneous. Since its distribution
began, we have received numerous letters of gratitude from people
in government, management companies, pet-owner associations, etc.,
who have also rated the textbook's contents highly. We of CAIRC,
whose aim is better coexistence between people and animals, are
deeply gratified that so many people have found value in using the
textbook.
Last year we also received communications from
numerous people in real estate about keeping pets in multi-unit
housing. Last May, in Vol. 2 No. 3 of this newsletter, we reported
the results of a survey conducted by the Recruit Company Housing
Information Weekly - namely, that 77% of real estate companies have
some kind of plan for pets-allowed apartment. We therefore decided
to go and talk to some of these real estate companies and find out
their views on the matter. The highlights of what we learned are
presented below.
Mitsubishi Estate to Begin Selling Its First Condominiums
Designed for Pets!
This spring, numerous real estate companies are
selling condominiums designed for pets and soliciting tenants for
them. In May, Mitsubishi Estate will begin selling the condominiums
in Kiyose Park House, building designed for pets in Kiyose City,
a suburb of Tokyo. When completed, this family-oriented, 8-story
complex will contain 114 units with an average floor space of 80-90
square meters. Much forethought has been given to keeping pets here:
the units are being equipped with such pet-related facilities as
a foot wash and waste flush outside the entrance, and will be optionally
provided with a cloth which is difficult to be damaged. Ms. Yoshiko
Iwamoto, of Mitsubishi Estate's Housing Operations Department 2,
a division in charge of planning, had this to say: "This is the
first time that Mitsubishi Estate has planned condominiums designed
for pets. As a result, there were a lot of difficulties. But there
are people who want to live with pets in condominiums, and we wanted
to accommodate them. Before building Kiyose Park House, we sent
out a questionnaire to people who live in the neighborhood; we got
about 600 responses, which we used as reference in the planning.
While there were many favorable comments about each unit having
its own parking space and natural materials being used wherever
possible in the construction, there were also many positive remarks
about being able to keep pets. Because of its highly natural environment
and good location, this area has many people who place importance
on living healthfully. In building condominiums where pets are allowed,
we feel we are providing another way to get the most out of this
location. But while this will be a building where pets are allowed,
it will not be exclusively for pet owners. I don't think you could
say it has a lot of facilities expressly for pets. Our idea was
to have pets treated not as something special, but rather as a natural
part of daily life. We have therefore incorporated the concept of
keeping pets into the structure and operation of the building, rather
than tacking on special pet hardware as sort of an afterthought.
"For example, in multi-unit housing where pets are allowed, it is proper
manners to pick up and carry your dog through the building's common areas. Accordingly,
we are only allowing small pets in the condominiums on the second floor and higher;
and so that medium-sized dogs can be kept in the first-floor condominiums, we
are connecting each of these to a common garden by an individual passageway, by
which the condominium can be directly entered and exited. We are also thinking
about establishing pet-keeping rules and restricting the types and number of dogs
that can be kept. That would help us to reduce the built-in pet facilities to
the necessary minimum, which is something we want to do for the sake of the occupants
who don't keep pets. That is, we want to create a building in which people that
keep pets and people that don't keep pets can live together harmoniously."
Many of Mitsubishi Estate's properties are managed
by another member of the Mitsubishi Group, Diamond Community, which
will also manage Kiyose Park House following its completion next
March. Part of this company's role is to support the start-up of
residential unions and pet owners' clubs. Katsuhisa Ichizuka, a
section representative in the company's Business Planning Department,
is enthusiastic about these efforts. "With the Kiyose Park House,"
he said, "we're going to help start up a pet owners' club at the
same time that we assist with the start-up of the building's residential
unions. Of course, it's the tenants who will take the lead in creating
these organizations. But if these get off to a good start, they
usually go smoothly afterwards, which makes our job easier. You
might think that two organizations require twice the work, but that's
not really the case, I think."
The Key to Making a Success of Pets-Allowed Housing Is Real Estate
and Management Companies Supporting Communication among the Tenants
The Kiyose Park
House will be completed next year, but the system for it is already
being created. However, the situation there will be significantly
different than that at the leased, pet owners-only condominiums
whose occupancy began this April. These are in Marche Koganei Park,
a building constructed by the Smile Corporation, a company that
handles city housing and numerous other properties in the Tamagawa
area. Marche Koganei Park contains a total of eight, 2LDK units
targeted at couples without children. Occupancy began on April 1.
An orientation meeting that is also intended as an opportunity for
the tenants and their pets to meet each other is scheduled for April
11. The neighborhood, which includes Koganei Municipal Park and
the Tamagawa Canal, is rich in greenery — an ideal environment
for keeping pets. As for facilities, there is a flush toilet for
discarding waste brought back from walks, a foot wash, and a common
leisure area equipped with hooks for attaching leashes. Consideration
was also given to pets in designing the living space. For example,
the floors are barrier free (they have no differences in level)
and are also cushioned so as to prevent injury to the legs and loins
of pets.
We spoke with Mr.
Hikaru Uchida, the person in charge of pets-allowed apartments in
Smile's Leasing Operations Department, who has been involved with
this project since its planning stages. "In creating pets-allowed
condominiums," he said, "the biggest issues are the tenants' awareness
of the problems and their communication with each other. While managing
a building, I also like to be like a "messenger boy" (laughs) —
someone who goes around to the different tenants, listening to them
and facilitating relations between them. Handing out maps that show
the veterinary hospitals, parks and so on in the neighborhood, holding
the orientation meeting on the eleventh — I try to deal attentively
with each and every unit. That way I can build trust between management
and the tenants, which then facilitates communication among the
tenants themselves. If you don't know your neighbor, then, if something
happens, it can grow into a problem. But if a trusting relationship
has been established, the matter can be handled on that basis, which
means fewer complaints, including about pets, to our company."
The condominiums in Kiyose Park House will be
sold, while those in Marche Koganei Park are being leased. The number
of units in each building is different. Each building is also being
handled differently. Which is probably why the efforts of both companies
have attracted much attention.
"In the 1980s," said Section Representative Ichizuka,
"the management regulations for almost all multi-unit housing prohibited
the keeping of pets. In actuality, however, many people kept pets
surreptitiously, as a result of which not a few problems arose.
No matter how much you try to keep a pet in a way that doesn't bother
the neighbors, since it's prohibited in the regulations, it is something
that should not be done. But regulations are only established for
the purpose of preventing tenants from bothering each other. And
if tenants can keep pets without bothering their neighbors, then
why not let them? Management companies have thus recently been moving
in the direction of accommodating different tenant lifestyles. That's
also because it's unnatural if, in a building of 100 units, there
isn't one that has a pet. Both real estate companies and management
companies have been changing quite a bit, I think."
At present, condominium
buildings that can accommodate diverse lifestyles are being built
one after another, and pets-allowed buildings are certainly among
them. Of course, this trend has only just begun. It could probably
be said that many construction and real estate companies are still
feeling their way ahead on this issue. However, the first steps
towards a society — which is sure to come — where people and animals
harmoniously coexist have clearly already been taken.
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