The Equal Access and Housing Practice Group (EAH PG)is a small team of advocates and attorneys that provides free limited, short-term legal services on disability-related housing issues to callers throughout California. EAH PG also collaborates with DRC’s social work team. We believe that sharing knowledge and connecting people to resources will empower people with disabilities to be able to make the best housing decisions for themselves.

EAH PG Services

EAH PG’s housing staff will help you to understand your housing rights and how you can enforce them. EAH PG hosts regular Know Your Rights workshops (more information below). For our short-term legal services, we base our legal advice around your individual needs and goals to help you understand which options will work best for you. After a brief intake screening to see if we might be able to help, you will have the opportunity to speak to an advocate or attorney about which issues are time sensitive and the pros and cons of different options. 

In addition to helping you understand and act on your legal issue, we have short-term social work staff who can help improve and maintain your household stability. We take a client-centered approach to make sure you are getting access to all of the programs you are entitled to and have the support you need to act on the legal advice you get from EAH PG.

Eligibility

To receive our services, you must meet each of the following: 

1. You or a household member must have a disability.
2. You must have a legal housing issue that is related to your disability or your household member’s disability.

Workshops

California is in a Housing Crisis

To help tenants understand their housing rights, Disability Rights California hosts free weekly workshops for tenants with disabilities. These workshops educate and empower tenants, and provide practical tips to navigate common housing issues from a tenants’ rights perspective. After the workshop, limited consultation spots are available for tenants with disabilities who have an active legal issue on the topic presented. Live ASL and alternate language interpretation available upon request.

Evictions Notices in California

When: First Tuesdays at 1:00 PM
Learn about your right to ask for changes to rules, policies, services, and the physical layout of your rental unit if needed for your disability.

Reasonable Accommodations & Modifications in Housing

When: Second Tuesdays at 1:00 PM
Learn about your right to safe living conditions and what you can do to document and address habitability issues in your rental unit.

Habitability and the Right to Safe Living Conditions

When: Third Tuesdays at 1:00 PM
Learn about your right to safe living conditions and what you can do to document and address habitability issues in your rental unit.

Know Your Rights: Support Animals in Housing

When: Fourth Tuesdays at 1:00 PM
Learn about your right to have service and emotional support (assistance animals) in your rental unit.

Register for Upcoming Workshops

Client Self-Advocacy
Success Story

Due to a crime she had survived in her home, “Mary” needed to move out of her home because of the trauma of the experience, which severely impacted her disabilities. She 

tried advocating with her housing provider for help, but the housing provider was ignoring her requests. “Mary” called DRC's Intake Line for help. 

After assessing “Mary’s” situation during the intake process,DRC advised her about her rights and options, and counseled her on setting priorities in her self-advocacy in order to address her housing issues moving forward, as well as to seek justice for past harms she had suffered in the process with the housing provider. 

With DRC's legal advice and short-term social work support, "Mary” was finally able to successfully self-advocate to move out of her apartment early without any penalty and move into a new apartment that would be able to meet her disability-related needs. 

Helpful Housing Resources

• Rent Increase Calculator - this tool will help you determine whether a proposed rent increase may be legal.
• Create a written response to an unlawful detainer summons & complaint notice
• Tenants Together Rent Control Information
• California Tenants: A Guide to Residential Tenants’ and Landlords’ Rights & Responsibilities
• California Unlawful Detainer (eviction) Process Description – CA Court Website
• HERA’s Habitability 101 Info Sheet
• DRC Resources