Free Legal Assistance Available for Low-Income Individuals Affected by Disasters
Were you affected by the 2019 Arkansas Rive Flood?
What do you remember about the flood?
Due to the potentially dangerous and destructive conditions of various disasters that have affected Arkansas, such as the 2019 Arkansas River Flood and COVID-19, we want Arkansans to know free legal resources are available to low-income individuals affected by these disasters.
Our Helpline —501-376-3423— puts callers in touch with legal aid assistance to help with:
Public Benefits-
Assistance securing government benefits as they are made available;
Document Assistance-
Assistance with life, medical, and property documents, and denials
FEMA appeals-
Help with FEMA appeals for home repair and other FEMA-related issues;
Document Replacement-
Replacement of wills and other important legal documents lost or destroyed in the disaster;
Consumer protection-
Issues such as avoiding contractor scams in the rebuilding process;
Eviction Defense-
Counseling on landlord-tenant problems and other matters.
The Helpline (toll-free: 1-800-950-5817) can assist callers in English and Spanish. People who qualify for assistance will be matched with lawyers who can provide free, limited legal help.
2019 Arkansas River Flood: From May 21, 2019 – June 14, 2019, historic flooding ravaged 13 Arkansas Counties: Arkansas, Conway, Crawford, Desha, Faulkner, Jefferson, Lincoln, Logan, Perry, Pope, Pulaski, Sebastian, and Yell. The President issued a disaster declaration for each of them. The Arkansas Governor’s Office estimated over 857 homes sustained major damage. Roughly, 97.25% of the homes were uninsured, with 78.3% of those homes owner-occupied versus rented. It is estimated that 20.58% of these individuals are low-income. CALS was awarded $500,000 to increase direct access to legal services for survivors and expand staff capacity to respond to the survivor’s unique legal needs.
Additional disaster recovery resources are available at https://www.arkansaslegal.org/disaster-assistance, https://www.arkbar.com/for-public/legal-assistance/disaster-legal-assistance, and https://www.dws.arkansas.gov/unemployment/disaster-ui-assistance/.
