Tenants Right to Counsel in San Francisco

"San Francisco and New York are the first two jurisdictions to recognize the necessity of having a lawyer to protect housing rights."

Proposition F, Tenants' Right to Counsel in San Francisco, was approved by voters in June 2018 but the proposition left the right to implement the program up to the Mayor's Office of Housing and Community Development.

The Eviction Defense Collaborative is acting as the main "clearing house" for tenants facing eviction and is working with various partner organizations to ensure legal representation. Partner organizations are AIDS Legal Referral Panel, Asian Law Caucus, Asian Pacific Islander Legal Outreach, Bay Area Legal Aid, La Raza Centro Legal, Legal Assistance to the Elderly, Open Door Legal, Tenderloin Housing Clinic, and the Bar Association of San Francisco and its affiliated-but-separate nonprofit, Justice & Diversity Center.

For more about this new initiative in San Francisco, see the links below:

http://www.sfweekly.com/news/tenant-right-to-counsel-moves-forward/

https://sfpublicpress.org/news/2018-04/proposition-f-free-legal-aid-for-tenants-facing-eviction

http://www.sfbar.org/forms/sfam/q32018/prop-f-right-to-housing-counsel-SFAM-Q318.pdf