Evictions in the city hit 3,600 in 2025, the highest total in a decade, and filings appear on track to rise further in 2026. Gail Gilman, executive director of the Eviction Defense Collaborative, said her organization expects close to 4,000 filings by the end of this calendar year.

The Tenant Right to Counsel program, which pledges full-scope legal representation to every tenant in an eviction case, was built to handle roughly 2,500 cases annually. With demand far exceeding that design, Gilman said there simply are not enough lawyers to represent everyone at risk of losing their homes.

"We believe we'll hit close to 4,000 [eviction] filings this calendar year," Gilman said.

The Eviction Defense Collaborative, a legal aid organization with an annual budget of about $23 million, receives a little less than half of its funding from government grants through the TRC program. It is the program's largest grantee.

A report issued in October by the city's budget and legislative analyst found that the collaborative provided full-scope representation to just over 600 clients in fiscal 2025, falling short of its goal of 838 by nearly 30%.

On Tuesday, the Board of Supervisors approved a $3 million funding increase for the program, bringing its total budget for the next fiscal year to around $21 million. But as Gilman noted, city budgets do not move as quickly as the eviction crisis.

The gap between the program's promise and its capacity carries high stakes for San Francisco renters, who face some of the steepest housing costs in the country. Without full representation, tenants navigating eviction proceedings must often confront landlords' attorneys alone, a disadvantage that can mean the difference between keeping a home and losing it.

The shortfall also raises questions about how the city will meet its legal commitment to tenants as caseloads continue to mount faster than funding and staffing can follow.