Housing Assistance
EDC is proud to work with organizations across San Francisco, including the following housing resources.
Conflict resolution between landlords and tenants, and between tenants and tenants. No fee.
At Helplink, a trained Information and Referral specialist will help you find information on community resources, employment, housing, substance abuse treatment, and more. Call for anonymous free referrals.
800-273-6222 or (415) 808-HELP
Spanish (415) 808-4444
Chinese (415) 808-7339
TTY (415) 808-4440
(415) 543-6222
For disabled tenants, hoarding and cluttering, reasonable accomodation issues in housing.
Rent Stabilization and Arbitration Board (Rent Board) – Alternative Dispute Resolution Pilot Program
San Francisco tenants may request that a Rent Board Mediator help resolve housing-related disputes involving one’s landlord, roommate, property manager or neighbor.
Spanish speaking. Provides some charity grants in crisis situations.
Call for an appointment with a caseworker for intake.
Seek a referral through HELPLINK at 1-800-273-6222.
Legal Assistance
English and Spanish. Can get interpreter for other languages. Services limited to individuals with HIV/AIDS. Direct representation and referrals to a panel of volunteer attorneys for landlord/tenant disputes. Call (415) 701-1100.
English, Spanish, Cantonese, Mandarin, and Vietnamese. Eviction defense with emphasis on public and federally subsidized housing. Must have a good defense and all or most of the back rent. Call (415) 354-6360.
Spanish-speaking. Tenant counseling and advocacy. Sliding scale fee. Call 575-3500 for an appointment.
Conflict resolution between landlords and tenants, and between tenants and tenants. No fee. Call (415) 920-3820.
Provides housing inspection and code enforcement services, permit services, plan review services, public services, and support services. Do not contact if unit is illegal. Call (415) 558-6088.
Provides legal services to people who are homeless or at risk of homelessness. May be able to provide attorneys for low-income tenants in eviction proceedings. Call (800) 405-4HAP.
Spanish, Cantonese, Mandarin, Korean, Japanese, Russian. Renters’ rights counseling. Does not provide legal representation. Offers free counseling for tenants in all types of housing, including rent-controlled, non-rent controlled, public housing, and Section 8. Call (415) 703-8644.
Aids disabled tenants. Offers low-income housing classes (eligibility, Section 8, caregivers/roommates, waiting lists), placement help if special concerns. Assistance with SOS & Lutheran Care for the Aging Applications. Spanish, Cantonese, ASL translation with notice.
Spanish speaking. Operates a Housing Clinic Wednesdays from 10 – 11 AM. Sliding scale fee. Must call for an appointment. Provides direct legal services in the areas of immigration law, workers’ rights and senior law to the low-income, monolingual Spanish-speaking and immigrant communities. Call (415) 575-3500.
Spanish, Mandarin, Cantonese. Free legal services, including representation, available to SF residents age 60 or older and younger SF residents with disabilities. Assistance with evictions, rent control disputes, habitability problems and subsidized housing. Call for appointment: (415) 538-3333.
Spanish, Cantonese, Tagalog speaking. Illegal rent increases, rent decreases for habitability problems, eviction notices (other than non-payment) should be filed here. Investigates and prevents wrongful evictions. Tenant can check whether landlord has done previous evictions. Phone counselors available 9 AM – 12 AM; 1 PM – 4 PM. For phone counseling, call (415) 252-4602.
Tenant counseling only. Publishes the San Francisco Tenant’s Union handbook. Membership fee or contribution will be requested. You can get updated counseling hours by calling (415) 282-6622.
Housing counseling for veterans. Also permanent and transitional housing, rental assistance, post office boxes, and other services.
Spanish, Cantonese, Vietnamese speaking. Counseling and representation for downtown, South of Market, and residential hotel tenants. Some housing placement for people in PAES program. Modified Payment Program for SROs.
California’s only state-wide organization for tenants’ rights. Works to raise awareness about tenant issues. Tenants Together operates a hotline for tenants in foreclosure situations. The hotline addresses a growing problem – the harassment and displacement of tenants who are innocent victims of the mortgage crisis. California tenants can reach the Tenant Foreclosure Hotline at (415) 495-8012.
Student-run organization in Berkeley, provides free rent-related information and resources to Bay Area tenants.
(510) 642-1755.
Legal support for those facing eviction lawsuits in Los Angeles county. Also provides attorney representation for a fee, on sliding scale.
Oakland Tenants: Oakland Eviction Defense Center
For East Bay tenants. Call for appointment if you have been served with an Unlawful Detainer. Full attorney representation for a fee, on sliding scale.
(510) 452-4541.
Additional Services
Call (415) 487-3249
Provides occupational training and employment opportunities. They offer on-the-job training, MUNI entry-level training, and vocational immersion programs.
(877) 751-0880 24-hour crisis line
Shelter for battered Asian women and their children. Priority given to Asian women who speak no English and have limited resources. Cantonese, Mandarin, Japanese, Korean, Cambodian, Vietnamese, Laotian, Tagalog, Spanish, Hindi, Punjabi, Sudanese, Thai, Singhala, Tamil, Mien, and Indonesian.
Call (415) 354-6360
Helps individuals in the Bay Area apply for financial and medical benefits through its Community Health Access Project, advocacy efforts, and legal assistance. Services that are provided include assisting clients with getting and keeping their public benefits, advocating and legally representing individuals facing barriers to health care, and helping clients enroll in and obtain services from various health care programs.
Call (415) 557-5723, Monday – Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Provides assistance to families with dependent children through cash grants, food stamps, and Medi-Cal.
Provides counseling and shelter for battered women and children. Spanish and English.
Provides counseling and assistance with obtaining temporary restraining orders for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender men and women who are victims of domestic violence.
Department of Human Services – General Assistance (GA)
Call (415) 558-1000
Spanish, Chinese, Vietnamese, Laotian, Russian, Tagalog, Korean speaking. Cash grant for indigent adults without any children. Benefits are currently $345/month. Anyone receiving over $340 in a month from any source or combination of sources would not be eligible to apply. Bring any available form of ID and proof of residency. If a person is eligible for GA and needs ID, the GA Program can assist in obtaining birth certificates for GA applicants and/or provide a $6.00 voucher for California ID (unless GA has a copy of ID in a previous application folder). Once someone is on GA, a program called Income Disregard allows recipients to work and still receive some GA.
Call (415) 298-8191 to confirm hours.
Provides free assistance, counseling and representation to persons denied, discontinued or in need of General Assistance and/or Food Stamps. Assist in application preparation process. Also does SSI advocacy up to the hearing stage. Clients may also use copier, and receive mail. No appointments necessary. All services free. Limited Spanish.
Call (415) 674-6000
Provides many services including a daily free meals program, women’s center, permanent supportive housing, youth education and workforce development, health services, and more Refer to website for details.
Call (415) 575-4561
Provides job-training programs that enable people to join and rejoin the workforce. Their work-based program provides six months of paid job-training, and their Back-On-Track program helps drug-offenders gain skills and maintain employment.
Call (888) 995-HOPE
24/7 free phone counseling for homeowners struggling with mortgage payments. Spanish counselors available.
Call (415) 982-1600
Provides assistance to people who are homeless or at risk of homelessness that are interested in applying for public benefit programs such as SSI and SSDI. Social services department helps individuals apply for and obtain disability benefits and file for reconsideration of disability denials; also may refer clients to other organizations that provide help with public benefits.
Focuses on economic justice in the Mission District, emphasis on Latino community. Provides resources and support for those starting a business or becoming a first-time homeowner.
Call (415) 777-0333
Helps people living with or at risk for HIV/AIDS get benefits counseling. Provides assistance with obtaining financial and medical benefits including: benefits analysis, advocacy, counseling about accessing public and private financial and health care benefits, representation for reconsideration of disability denials.
Serves battered women and their children, providing advocacy, and case management. Runs Riley Center Emergency Shelter and Brennan House, a transitional housing program. Spanish and Mandarin. (Will get other interpreters as necessary).
