Homelessness

Interdisciplinary client services, partnerships, policy advocacy and litigation to build long-term exits from homelessness and protect the rights of unhoused people

BayLegal is committed to meaningfully addressing the Bay Area's homelessness crisis.

BayLegal provides free civil legal services to low-income individuals and families who are unstably housed or at risk of homelessness in order to prevent homelessness and increase housing stability. BayLegal also helps unhoused youth and adults address legal barriers that prevent them from exiting homelessness. We use a mix of strategies, including direct legal services, coalition building and partnerships, policy advocacy, and litigation to advocate for systems change that will help people maintain housing, exit homelessness, and protect unhoused persons’ civil rights.

This more comprehensive approach has developed as our legal practice has encountered the full complexity of legal and social inequities and barriers that both contribute to homelessness and are in turn exacerbated by it. The Bay Area's housing crisis, barriers to health care and health access, improper denials or needlessly complex application processes for critical income supports and public benefits, the impacts of domestic violence, the role of historical and systemic racial injustice in housing insecurity—all contribute to individuals and families becoming unhoused, and all can deepen and entrench long-term homelessness. Faced with this complexity, the need for a coordinated, effective response to homelessness in our state and region is clear.

Have Questions? Need Help?

  • Legal Advice Line: 800-551-5554
  • California Relay Service: Dial 7-1-1 or from TTY dial 1-800-735-2929 or visit California Relay Service for more information.

The scope of the crisis of homelessness in California, and BayLegal's response

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February 6 @ 5:22 pm

Disability nondiscrimination policy and grievance procedure

February 6 @ 5:22 pm

San Francisco County Office

1800 Market Street, 3rd Floor, San Francisco, CA 94102 | Phone: (415) 982-1300

February 6 @ 5:22 pm

San Mateo County Office

1048 El Camino Real, Suite A, Redwood City, CA 94063 | Phone: (650) 358-0745

February 6 @ 5:22 pm

Santa Clara County Office

4 North Second Street, Suite 600, San Jose, CA 95113 | Phone: (408) 283-3700

February 6 @ 5:22 pm

Volunteer Application Form

February 6 @ 5:22 pm

Youth Homelessness Project Report

A report documenting years of intensive work with children and youth experiencing or at risk of homelessness in the San Francisco Bay Area.

February 6 @ 5:22 pm

Youth Justice Referral Form

Information to help you with this form.

February 6 @ 5:22 pm

Pro Bono Attorneys

February 6 @ 5:22 pm

RFA (Resource Family Approval) Cheat Sheet for Emergency Placement & Criminal Record Exemptions

https://baylegal.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/RFA-Cheatsheet.pdf

February 6 @ 5:22 pm

Safety at Home: Demanding Child Welfare Services for Youth in the Juvenile Justice System

February 6 @ 5:22 pm

Know Your Rights: Domestic Violence 

BayLegal Youth Intern Armaan Sharma has assembled and designed a new Know Your Rights resource on domestic violence. With extensive information on legal definitions and rights, and specific information for youth, immigrants, and LGBTQIA+ individuals, we hope this resource will prove useful to anyone seeking help or providing community education on domestic violence.

February 6 @ 5:22 pm

Know Your Rights: McKinney-Vento Act (education rights for youth experiencing homelessness)

BayLegal’s Youth Justice team has assembled a Know Your Rights document and resource list on the McKinney-Vento Act’s protections for youth experiencing homelessness. Many thanks to the YJ team’s high school interns, who have worked this summer to research and design this resource!