It is widely recognized that people experiencing homelessness are controlled, excluded and (over)criminalized, in Canada and elsewhere (Gaetz 2013; Bellot et al. 2021). Moreover, they face several obstacles when they find themselves in court, particularly in connexion with the (lack of) presumption of innocence and access to justice (Bernheim 2019); conditions of release (Sylvestre, et al, 2020) as well as the therapeutic requirements and the feeling of procedural injustice (Sylvestre et al 2011; Roy et al 2022). At the same time, ‘support’ and adaptability programs (ex. PAJ-IC) and certain case law (Matte v. R. 2020; R. v. Zora, 2020) are reshaping the legal relevance of homelessness. In many of these circumstances, defense lawyers play an important role. Their perceptions and practices are important to document and understand, especially in our current context, where social (e.g. housing, poverty) and legal (e.g. legal aid, court delays) crises are converging, and where the possibilities of negotiation, advocacy, socio-therapeutic intervention or argumentation for sentencing are changing rapidly. Our project includes semi structured interviews conducted with defence lawyers - in private practice and with legal aid - working in Montreal (N=50), in rural areas or in northern Quebec (N=15). In our paper, we describe and analyse when and how they (1) work with and represent unhoused clients (2) raise and value the legal significance of profiling practices suffered by this group and (3) perceive how other judicial actors recognize the importance of this profiling. We draw from literature focused on the role of the defence, practice management, court cultures, justice models, and the social and legal relevance of homelessness in the courts. Our analysis highlights challenges experienced by defence lawyers and their unhoused clients, and also maps out promising practices and calls for action.