BayLegal’s Advocacy

Bay Area Legal Aid works both on our own and in partnership with a broad array of other advocacy organizations and public systems to address the systemic inequities facing our clients and their communities. During the COVID-19 pandemic this work has grown along with the need to help mitigate the pandemic’s disproportionate impacts on low-income families and communities in areas of housing, economic security, healthcare and public benefits access, and other issues. Public health should mean all of us!

The list on this page is dynamically updated, so check back frequently.

BayLegal Opposes the City of Oakland’s Proposed “Homeless Encampment Management Policy”

| By BayLegal
Categories: Advocacy, Homepage, News
On Friday, October 16, Bay Area Legal Aid attorneys submitted public comment strongly opposing the City of Oakland’s proposed “Homeless Encampment Management Policy.” Implementation of the policy as written would result in unconstitutional seizures of property and denial of due process rights to those living unsheltered in Oakland. It would needlessly increase policing, accelerate the …

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Working to Protect Accessible and Representative Juries in Alameda County Misdemeanor Trials

| By BayLegal
Categories: Advocacy, Homepage, News
BayLegal has submitted a letter urging that the Alameda County Superior Court reconsider its plan to eliminate local jury panels and to institute county-wide jury pools for misdemeanor trials. Traveling across-county to serve on a jury would be a tremendous hardship for low-income people, particularly those with disabilities and during the pandemic. Our clients’ decreased …

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Advocating for Due Process Rights for Our Immigrant Survivor Clients

| By BayLegal
Categories: Advocacy, Homepage, News
The BayLegal Regional Immigration team has submitted comments opposing proposed Executive Office of Immigration Review rules that would strip important due process rights from noncitizens before the immigration court and Board of Immigration Appeals. The proposed regulations would dramatically alter the BIA appellate process, prevent many noncitizens with immediate relatives or asylum eligibility from reopening …

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Eliminate the Inflated Cost of Phone and Video Communication for People Incarcerated at Santa Rita Jail and Their Families

| By BayLegal
Categories: Advocacy, Homepage, News
Yesterday Bay Area Legal Aid joined nine other legal services, prisoner support, and social justice organizations in urging the Alameda County Board of Supervisors to eliminate the inflated cost of phone and video communications between people incarcerated at Santa Rita Jail (SRJ) and their families. Families and communities most affected by incarceration are already among …

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BayLegal Stands Against Proposed HUD Rule Allowing Anti-Transgender Discrimination in Shelters

| By BayLegal
Categories: Advocacy, Homepage, News, Other
Protect Trans Live march sign
Bay Area Legal Aid today published our response to a request for comment by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), strongly opposing a new proposed HUD rule for shelter admissions. The rule would enshrine in approved HUD practice anti-transgender discrimination in shelter admissions based on gender stereotyping, create additional barriers to shelter …

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Align SFMTA Tow Policy with Economic and Racial Justice

| By BayLegal
Categories: Advocacy, Homepage, News
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Car being towed
BayLegal, along with 26 other organizations and individuals, has submitted a letter to the Director and Board of the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA) advocating for the end of poverty tows in San Francisco, and for a tow and impound policy aligned with economic and racial justice. “Poverty tows” for unpaid tickets, in the …

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Updates on BayLegal’s Advocacy with the Judicial Council of California

| By BayLegal
Categories: Advocacy, Homepage, News
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California Judicial Council Seal, which includes a picture of Roman goddess Minerva
The Judicial Council is the policymaking body of the California courts. Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, BayLegal has worked with the Judicial Council to advocate for the needs of low-income litigants and for overall public safety within the legal system, supporting the statewide suspension of eviction proceedings along with court closures and changes to procedures to …

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Preventing Homelessness Among Former Foster Youth: BayLegal and Allied Organizations Present Guidelines for Counties

| By BayLegal
Categories: Advocacy, News
| Tags: ,
Seven young people lounge against a wall smiling
Bay Area Legal Aid, together with the Youth Law Center and John Burton Advocates for Youth, has developed guidelines for counties to mitigate the increased risk of homelessness and housing instability among youth who exited foster care after age 18. Youth who are facing exit from the Transitional Housing Program-Plus (THP-Plus) during the current public …

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Advocating for Residents of Public and Subsidized Housing During the COVID-19 Emergency

| By BayLegal
Categories: Advocacy, Homepage, News
| Tags: ,
College dorms overlooking a lawn
Low income families residing in subsidized housing are particularly vulnerable to wage loss and layoffs during the shelter in place order. Even slight reductions in family income can have direct impact on a family’s ability to pay for housing, and a period of three weeks or more with reduced or no income may lead to …

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Supporting Protections for Unsheltered People and Homeless Service Providers During the COVID-19 Emergency

| By BayLegal
Categories: Advocacy, Homepage, News
| Tags:
Updated March 25, 2020 @ 5:05pm Bay Area Legal Aid has joined the ACLU of California and 86 other legal services, civil rights, and homeless services organizations in asking Governor Newsom to clarify that: Executive Order N-33-20’s (the shelter in place order’s) requirement that California residents stay in their homes does not apply to unhoused …

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BayLegal Calls for a Moratorium on Consumer Debt Collection

| By BayLegal
Categories: Advocacy, Homepage, News, Other
| Tags: , ,
Rubber stamp with the text past due over an invoice document
On March 23, 2020, Bay Area Legal Aid and 15 allied legal services and consumer protection organizations submitted a letter to Governor Newsom requesting immediate steps to protect consumers as part of the state’s COVID-19 emergency response. In order to mitigate irreparable harm being done to consumers and communities throughout the state, we have requested …

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Advocating for an Emergency Moratorium on Poverty Tows in California

| By BayLegal
Categories: Advocacy, Homepage, News
| Tags: ,
Car being towed
Yesterday Bay Area Legal Aid joined 22 partner organizations in a coalition that has worked to stop “poverty tows” at the local and state level. We wrote to Governor Newsom asking that he issue an Executive Order placing an immediate moratorium on all vehicle tows, other than those necessary for public safety or criminal enforcement, …

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