Affirmative Housing Attorney

Open Door Legal • San Francisco, CA

11d • Hybrid

About The Position

Open Door Legal (ODL) is seeking an Affirmative Housing Attorney to join their growing team. ODL is pioneering a system of universal access to civil legal representation to reduce poverty. The Affirmative Housing Attorney will work collaboratively with the housing team and clients to ensure the rights of San Francisco low-income residents to safe and healthy homes. This role involves addressing issues such as housing discrimination, illegal rent increases, landlord harassment, Rent Board petitions, constructive evictions, wrongful evictions, habitability, and UD restrictions. The housing team is the largest practice group at ODL, with the Affirmative Housing section having two dedicated attorneys.

Requirements

• Membership in good standing with the California State Bar.
• At least 1 (preferably 2+) years of experience in either tenant-side housing law or a similar field.
• Strong time management skills and ability to handle quick timelines, manage diverse activities, organize case tasks, and meet critical deadlines with minimal supervision.
• Active demonstration of cultural humility and sensitivity to barriers low-income San Franciscans face.
• Demonstrated understanding of how to effectively provide trauma-informed advocacy for clients in crisis.
• Genuine enjoyment and motivation for working with low-income clients and ability to work competently with clients impacted by trauma.
• Hybrid position: minimum of three days in-office.
• High level of comfort learning and using technology and cloud-based case management systems (Salesforce, Dropbox, Google Suite).
• Must be legally authorized to work in the U.S. without sponsorship.

Nice To Haves

• Comfort translating and interpreting from English to Spanish or Cantonese and vice versa legal information without assistance.
• Speaks at least conversational Spanish, Mandarin, Cantonese, Tagalog/other Filipino dialects, or Vietnamese.
• Experience with filing and interacting within the San Francisco Superior Court.
• Experience working with low-income and vulnerable populations.
• Experience working in a high-volume direct services legal aid or similar environment.
• Having lived a significant period of your life in San Francisco proper, specifically, a connection to the Bayview/Hunters Point, Excelsior, Sunset, or Western Addition neighborhoods.

Responsibilities

• Embody the mission of universal access to civil legal aid and work with the team to ensure affirmative housing needs are met.
• Maintain a full caseload, opening and closing cases efficiently.
• Facilitate housing and brief service intakes across multiple office locations and virtually.
• Represent clients at SF Superior Court, SF Rent Board hearings, SFHA administrative hearings, grievance hearings with subsidized housing providers, mediations with the Conflict Intervention Service, and California Civil Rights Department mediations.
• Provide services and support to low-income clients with sensitivity to cultural, socio-economic, and disability differences.
• Maintain a high rating in the client feedback survey.
• Utilize Salesforce (client management system) to document case activities and maintain accurate client records.
• Represent the organization's mission and values externally and internally.

Benefits

• Loan Repayment Assistance (conditional benefit for staff pursuing 10-year public interest debt forgiveness).
• Medical/Dental/Vision Plan offerings at 100% coverage.
• Generous paid time off (four weeks vacation and two weeks sick/care).
• Flexible work hours.
• Generous paid parental leave.
• 401K/Retirement Account.
• Financial investment in individual professional development (mentorships, coaching, conferences, workshops).

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Mid Level
• Education Level: No Education Listed