San Francisco, California
San Francisco Social Security Disability Attorneys for SSI Claims and Appeals
Social Security's office locator assigns the San Francisco ZIP codes listed below to three field offices: Downtown at 90 7th Street, Chinatown at 560 Kearny Street and Mission at 3140 16th Street. All three are on the San Francisco hearing office's list, so a hearing requested from anywhere in the city generally goes to that hearing office, on the 16th floor of the Equity Building at 301 Howard Street. The same list takes in Daly City and San Mateo, and, far to the south, Bakersfield and Delano.
Downard & Associates represents adults in San Francisco and across California in Supplemental Security Income (SSI) and Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) claims, from the first application through reconsideration, the hearing and Appeals Council review. We work by phone or video from our office in Lebanon, Tennessee, and there is no fee unless you win.
How we help
SSI and SSDI Work Our San Francisco Disability Attorneys Take On
SSDI depends on your own work that paid into Social Security.
SSI is the needs-based program, with limits on income and countable resources, and it does not depend on a work record. SSDI depends on your own work that paid into Social Security. You can apply for both at once, and for adults the two programs use the same definition of disability. Our SSI claims page explains how we handle the needs-based side, and our California disability lawyer page maps the rest of the state's hearing offices.
There is no Downard office in San Francisco. Consultations take place by phone or video, and our attorneys handle hearings from Tennessee by phone or video. We represent adults age 18 and older. We do not handle VA claims or appeals, though we take SSDI cases for people who receive VA benefits. Continuing disability review and cessation cases are outside our practice, as are cases about back pay alone, and federal court appeals go to affiliated counsel.
Hearing office
The San Francisco Hearing Office List Runs From the Mission to Kern County
Social Security's hearing office data, the file behind its hearing office locator, gives the San Francisco hearing office's address as Equity Building, 16th Floor, 301 Howard Street, San Francisco, CA 94105, and names ten California field offices on its list: Bakersfield, Bakersfield-East Hills, Chinatown, Daly City, Delano, Mission, Parkside, San Francisco (Downtown), San Mateo and Western Addition. The office locator lists no Parkside or Western Addition office, and it sends every San Francisco ZIP code in the sample below to Downtown, Chinatown or Mission.
San Mateo County is split between two lists, and several nearby counties sit on others. The Redwood City field office, which the locator assigns to Redwood City, San Carlos and Menlo Park, is on the San Jose hearing office's list, covered on our San Jose disability lawyer page. San Rafael is on the San Rafael hearing office's list with Santa Rosa, Napa and Vallejo, and Oakland, Berkeley, Richmond and the rest of the East Bay offices are on the Oakland list, which our Oakland disability lawyer page covers.
Social Security's operations manual says hearing office jurisdiction is determined by the claimant's residence address, though you can ask, in a signed statement giving your reasons, to have a case transferred, and Social Security decides whether to do it. Social Security's hearings manual also lets it reassign some cases to another hearing office to relieve a temporary workload imbalance or increase productivity, only when the other office can hear and decide them more quickly. Social Security generally does not reassign a case this way when you have properly objected in writing to both a phone hearing and an agency video hearing, have not agreed to online video, and have not changed your residence. After a move, it generally still honors that objection when deciding whether to reassign the case for workload reasons, if doing so causes no added delay and nothing else calls for scheduling you another way. That practice is separate from the hearing-format rule, under which Social Security decides how you appear after a move. When Social Security moves a case to another hearing office for workload or productivity reasons, the office that receives it notifies you and your representative. Our hearing office directory lists every office with its field offices. For an in-person or agency video hearing, the Notice of Hearing names the place, so go by that notice for your own case.
Field offices and zip codes
Which San Francisco or San Mateo County Field Office Takes Your ZIP Code
Social Security's office locator assigns the ZIP codes below. Assignments follow ZIP codes rather than neighborhood names, so the names in parentheses are only a guide. The list is a sample, the locator can change, and the result for your own ZIP code is what counts.
San Francisco (Downtown), Annex 1st Floor, 90 7th Street: 94102 and 94103 (Civic Center, Tenderloin, SoMa), 94115 (Western Addition), 94117 (Haight), 94118 (Inner Richmond), 94121 (Outer Richmond), 94122 (Sunset), 94123 (Marina) and 94129 (Presidio).
Chinatown, 560 Kearny Street: 94104, 94105 and 94111 (Financial District), 94108 (Chinatown), 94109 (Nob Hill, Polk Gulch) and 94133 (North Beach).
Mission, 3140 16th Street: 94107 (Potrero Hill), 94110 (Mission, Bernal Heights), 94112 (Excelsior, Ingleside), 94114 (Castro), 94116 (Parkside), 94124 (Bayview), 94127 (West Portal), 94131 (Glen Park), 94132 (Lake Merced), 94134 (Visitacion Valley) and 94158 (Mission Bay).
Daly City, Suite 201, 355 Gellert Blvd: 94014 and 94015 (Daly City), 94080 (South San Francisco), 94044 (Pacifica) and 94005 (Brisbane).
San Mateo, Suite 101, 800 South Claremont Street: 94401 through 94404 (San Mateo and Foster City), 94066 (San Bruno), 94010 (Burlingame), 94030 (Millbrae), 94002 (Belmont) and 94019 (Half Moon Bay).
A Parkside address in 94116 is assigned to the Mission office, and a Western Addition address in 94115 to Downtown, even though the hearing office list still carries field offices by those two names.
Kern county
Bakersfield, Delano and Tehachapi Hearings on the San Francisco List
Three of the ten field offices on the San Francisco list are in Kern County. The locator assigns most Bakersfield ZIP codes, along with Shafter (93263) and Taft (93268), to the Bakersfield field office at 5300 Office Park Drive. East Bakersfield (93305, 93306 and 93307), Arvin (93203), Lamont (93241), Lake Isabella (93240) and Tehachapi (93561) go to the Bakersfield-East Hills office at 2575 Haley Street, and Delano, McFarland (93250) and Wasco (93280) go to the Delano office at 2234 Girard Street. A hearing requested from any of those ZIP codes generally goes to San Francisco rather than to the Fresno hearing office. Our Bakersfield disability lawyer page has more on Kern County claims.
Ridgecrest (93555), California City (93505), Mojave (93501), Boron (93516) and Rosamond (93560) are the exception. The locator assigns them to the Lancaster field office, which is on the Los Angeles (West) hearing office's list, and our Los Angeles disability lawyer page covers that office.
City assistance and SSI
San Francisco CAAP Benefits While an SSI Claim Is Pending
CAAP lists help applying for SSI, for people with a long-term disability, among the application help it offers.
The San Francisco Human Services Agency's County Adult Assistance Programs (CAAP) provide cash assistance and employment services to low-income San Franciscans with no dependent children, including people who cannot work, and CAAP decides eligibility under its own rules on residency, income and expenses. CAAP lists help applying for SSI, for people with a long-term disability, among the application help it offers. CAAP's number is (833) 879-1365, and its service center is at 1460 Mission Street.
CAAP and SSI remain separate decisions by separate agencies, so a CAAP application does not take the place of an SSI application or an SSI appeal. CAAP's page on keeping benefits tells clients to report new income within five business days, and it names SSI and Social Security disability benefits among the sources. Under California's interim assistance reimbursement rules, a county with an interim assistance contract with the state can recover cash aid it paid while an SSI application was pending from the SSI back payment, but only when the SSI application is granted and a valid signed SSP 14 authorization is on file. Ask CAAP whether that applies to your case. Keep the county's letters and Social Security's letters in separate files, with the date each one arrived.
Local treatment records
Records From SF General, UCSF Health and the Fort Miley VA
San Francisco Health Network, including Zuckerberg San Francisco General: the city's health records page says most records can be seen in MyChart without a request. For anything else, it says to complete the authorization form and bring it with a valid photo ID to Health Information Management, 1001 Potrero Avenue, Building 5, Room 2B4, Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., or email it with a copy of a government-issued ID to zsfgroi@sfdph.org. The page gives 628-206-8622 for medical records and a separate mailing address, Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital, 1001 Potrero Avenue, Bldg 5, 2nd Floor, 2B1, San Francisco, CA 94110-3518, and says mailed requests get a response within 7 to 10 business days.
UCSF Health: UCSF Health's medical records page says MyChart users can request a copy through the Sharing Hub, or mail a signed release form to Health Information Management Services, 400 Parnassus Ave., Room A88, San Francisco, CA 94143-0308, phone 415-353-2221. It says requests are processed within 15 days and copies cost 25 cents a page, or $25 for an electronic record. Psychiatric records come from Langley Porter or the Nancy Friend Pritzker Psychiatry Building, depending on the date and type of care.
San Francisco VA Medical Center: the VA's medical records office page lets signed-in veterans review, print and download their records online. For copies, it asks for a signed VA Form 10-5345a, delivered to or mailed to Building 2, First Floor, Room 176, 4150 Clement Street, San Francisco, CA 94121, and it says requests may take up to 20 business days.
Hearings and deadlines
Hearing Format and Appeal Deadlines for a San Francisco Disability Claim
To object in writing to a phone or agency video hearing, after you receive the Notice of Ways to Attend a Hearing
30days
20 CFR 404.936(d), 416.1436(d)
After a hearing request, Social Security sends a Notice of Ways to Attend a Hearing, and its ways to attend page lists four: in person or by agency video at one of its offices, and by phone or online video from a private location you choose. Under 20 CFR 404.936 and, for SSI, 20 CFR 416.1436, an objection to a phone hearing, an agency video hearing, or both must be made in writing within 30 days after you receive that notice. If you do not object, Social Security can schedule a phone or agency video hearing, though it can also schedule you in person or, if you agree, by online video; if you object to only one of those two formats, it can schedule you in person, by the other format, or by online video if you agree, and if you object to both, it generally schedules you in person or, if you agree, by online video. Online video is used only if you agree to it in writing, and a late objection or agreement needs good cause. If you move while the hearing request is pending, Social Security decides how you appear and can schedule a phone or agency video hearing despite an objection, though it considers the move only if you send evidence of your new residence; it can also use a phone hearing in a few other situations the rule lists. Our guide to hearing formats explains each choice and when Social Security moves a case to another office, and our disability hearings page describes the hearing itself.
A reconsideration request is due in writing within 60 days after you receive the initial denial, under 20 CFR 404.909 for SSDI and 20 CFR 416.1409 for SSI, and a hearing request after a reconsideration denial has its own 60 days under 20 CFR 404.933 and 20 CFR 416.1433. Social Security treats a notice as received 5 days after the date on the notice unless you show it came later, under 20 CFR 404.901 and 20 CFR 416.1401. A late request needs a written request for more time and good cause, so call us the week a denial arrives.
Common questions
San Francisco SSI and Disability Appeal Questions
Is the San Francisco hearing office the one at the Federal Building on 7th Street?
No. Social Security's hearing office data gives the hearing office as the 16th floor of the Equity Building, 301 Howard Street. The office locator puts the Downtown field office in the 1st floor annex at 90 7th Street, which handles applications and other field office business. If your hearing is in person or by agency video, the Notice of Hearing names the place.
I live in Daly City. Is my hearing in San Francisco or San Jose?
Generally San Francisco. The locator assigns 94014 and 94015 to the Daly City field office, and Daly City is on the San Francisco hearing office's list. Redwood City, San Carlos and Menlo Park ZIP codes go to the Redwood City field office instead, which is on the San Jose list.
Why would a Bakersfield SSI appeal be heard by the San Francisco office?
Because Social Security's hearing office data puts the Bakersfield, Bakersfield-East Hills and Delano field offices on the San Francisco list, and the hearing office that serves your residence address has jurisdiction. ZIP codes including Ridgecrest, California City and Mojave are assigned to the Lancaster field office, which falls under the Los Angeles (West) hearing office instead.
If SSI is approved while I am on CAAP, do I tell the county?
Yes. CAAP's page on keeping benefits tells clients to report new income within five business days by phone or email, and it names SSI and disability benefits from Social Security among the sources. CAAP also checks eligibility every six months. Ask CAAP at (833) 879-1365 how an SSI award, including any back payment, affects your CAAP case.
Discuss your claim
Start a San Francisco Claim Review by Phone or Video
Phone (615) 255-4307 or use the free review form, and expect a response within 3 business hours. Have your Social Security letters ready, with the date each one arrived, along with the names of the clinics, hospitals and doctors that have treated you.