Every day, Asian Law Caucus staff meet with tenants in San Francisco. As attorneys and advocates, we see how urgently immigrant communities, communities of color, and working people need safe and affordable housing.
ALC is a member of San Francisco’s Tenant Right to Counsel program which provides free legal representation to tenants facing eviction. This year, ALC’s Housing Rights team re-opened our biweekly legal clinic for San Francisco residents, which provides legal assistance to tenants facing repairs, rent increases, harassment, and other housing problems. Our clients are predominantly immigrant community members, many of whom speak non-English languages. If you or someone you know needs housing help in San Francisco, please contact us at (415) 896-1701 or through our website contact form.
To learn more about our work with San Francisco tenants, read the Q&A below with the ALC Housing Rights team.
Our housing rights attorneys and advocates planning their work for the upcoming year.
What does safe housing look like in San Francisco?
For us, it’s about whether someone can live and stay in their community. Unfortunately, many of our clients face eviction, which not only displaces them from their homes but also from the communities and relationships they've built. Safe housing means more than just a roof over your head; it’s about being able to afford to live, stay, and grow in a community that truly feels like home. It’s about having a place that’s not just physically secure, but also culturally and linguistically appropriate.
Why is this city so unaffordable for so many?
San Francisco is unaffordable for a lot of reasons. One reason is because of over-reliance on the private market to meet the housing needs of working people and marginalized communities. Too often, housing policies are focused on incentivizing private developers to build without regard to whether the new buildings are what San Franciscans, especially people who are paid low wages, need to live here.The result is a situation where rents remain high, offering little relief to renters. Meanwhile, landlords who are able to push out long-term tenants can then rent out those newly vacant units at premium rates.
ALC advocated that SF prioritize housing services in the city’s budget. Picture by Joseph Smooke.
What support are our clients looking for to feel safe at home?
A major issue is language access. Many clients can’t communicate with property managers or understand the notices on their doors. This is especially challenging in buildings with tenants who predominantly use non-English languages. Ensuring language access is crucial so that tenants can understand what is going on in their homes and make informed decisions. In a 2022 case with Valstock Management, Chinatown tenants fought to remain in their long-time rent-controlled homes, free from discrimination and harassment. Our clients felt deeply disempowered because legal notices weren’t in their language.
This is why we have a legal clinic that helps clients understand they have rights and we empower them to fight back, with legal backing and community-based organizations. We strive to ensure that tenants leave our clinic with more knowledge and resources than they had when they arrived, even if we can't take on their case directly.
How does tenant advocacy in San Francisco help tenants address systemic housing challenges?
Tenants have organized to pass crucial policies that bolster their rights, like the Union at Home ordinance. This citywide ordinance allows tenants to organize within their buildings and see the challenges they’re encountering, such as eviction attempts, unsafe buildings, or language barriers, as part of a larger systemic problem rather than isolated incidents. San Francisco is a renter’s city, with about 60% of residents renting. By organizing and connecting with neighbors, tenants can gain leverage and bargaining power to create better living conditions.
Housing rights community advocates Amalia and Faustina.
Taking on corporate landlords and abrupt eviction threats is difficult and demanding. What keeps you all going?
The work can be exhausting and disillusioning, especially when facing the many systemic challenges that go against our clients’ rights. However, the victories, no matter how small, and the connections we make with our clients provide the motivation to keep going. Many of us are in this work because we feel a deep connection to those we serve - communities of color, immigrant communities, working people, and marginalized groups.