FEMA has many other services to help you in addition to financial assistance.
Legal Services
Crisis Counseling and Mental Health
Unemployment Assistance
Case Management
Additional Resources
Disaster Legal Services
Disaster Legal Services (DLS) provides legal help to survivors affected by a presidentially declared major disaster. These services are available to survivors who qualify as low-income and are limited to cases that would not normally incur legal fees. Typically, the types of legal assistance offered includes help with:
- Insurance claims for medical bills, loss of property and loss of life
- New wills, powers of attorney and other legal papers lost in the disaster
- Home repair contracts and disputes with contractors and/or landlords
- Proof of home ownership
- FEMA appeals
DLS attorneys are not FEMA employees. Services are provided in partnership with the American Bar Association Young Lawyers’ Division. They do not share information with FEMA.
To find services in your area, visit the Young Lawyer’s Division page.
Crisis Counseling and Mental Health Services
Disasters can take an emotional toll on your well-being. To ensure that survivors have essential support in challenging times, free and confidential crisis counseling and mental health support may be offered in your area. Services help to manage stress, process trauma, cope with recent experiences and losses, and connect with additional resources. The program does not provide full mental health or psychiatric services.
Counselors are available to visit you at home, at a shelter, your temporary home or places of worship at no cost. Crisis counseling services and educational programs are also provided one-on-one and in group settings.
For free and confidential crisis support in any language, call or text the Disaster Distress Helpline at 800-985-5990.
For more information, you may also visit Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration Help.
Disaster Unemployment Assistance
If you couldn’t work as a direct result of a presidentially declared major disaster, you may be eligible for Disaster Unemployment Assistance (DUA).
To be eligible for DUA benefits, you must meet the following criteria:
- Became unemployed, including self-employed individuals, as a direct result of the presidentially declared disaster;
- Be a U.S. citizen, non-citizen national or a qualified alien;
- Not qualify for regular unemployment insurance benefits from any state;
- Have worked or were self-employed in, or were scheduled to begin work or self-employment in, one of the counties listed above; and
- Establish that the work or self-employment they can no longer perform was their primary source of income.
You can use the CareerOneStop Unemployment Benefits Finder to find the state agency you need.
These services are the responsibility of the U.S. Department of Labor, funded by FEMA, and administered by the affected state, tribal, or territorial workforce agency.
Disaster Case Management
You may be eligible to get a case manager to help with your recovery—if approved for the presidentially declared major disaster.
The Disaster Case Management program involves a partnership between a case manager and a disaster survivor to develop and carry out the survivor’s long-term recovery plan. Long-term unmet needs may include financial, physical, emotional or spiritual well-being, as well as referrals for materials and/or manpower to provide support to survivors in their recovery. A case manager helps households return to a state of independence.
Call FEMA’s Helpline at 1-800-621-3362 to see if case managers are available in your area.
Additional Survivor Resources
Resources may be available to you from sources other than FEMA. Visit our state and local, territory, and national level referral lists to get additional resources to support your road to recovery.
There are also many tools and resources on Ready.gov to help prepare before a disaster or get support after, including:
Please Note
FEMA's Individual Assistance programs are intended to meet only essential needs and are not intended to cover all losses. Some people qualify for assistance from more than one program; you may be receiving additional help from other federal and voluntary agencies. However, you cannot receive assistance for the same exact need from more than one program or entity, including your insurance.