ABA's Disaster Legal Services program is suspending formal operations after FEMA freeze
Areas hit by Hurricane Helene in October had been receiving assistance from the Disaster Legal Services program until this week. (Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images)
The ABA Young Lawyers Division’s Disaster Legal Services program is suspending its formal operations until further notice, according to a letter sent from the program’s director to its active partners Tuesday.
In the letter, program director Amanda Brown said the Federal Emergency Management Agency told the ABA last week that it would freeze all funding for Disaster Legal Services and other community services programs at the behest of its executive leaders.
“In the days since, we’ve faced other challenges that have shuttered our ability to provide meaningful services to our network of partners and the public at large,” Brown wrote. “Thus, we are forced to suspend formal operations until there is more clarity and certainty around the future of the program, and our relationship with FEMA.”
Until now, Disaster Legal Services, which has been in existence since the early 1970s, operated in conjunction with FEMA and local legal aid offices.
The program helped state bar associations and pro bono lawyers set up hotlines and coordinate the delivery of free legal services to survivors in the wake of federally declared natural disasters. This includes assisting with insurance claims, recovery of lost legal documents, home repair contracts and disputes with landlords.
FEMA, which has had operating agreements with the ABA for more than four decades, could face elimination, according to Kristi Noem, the secretary of the Department of Homeland Security. (Photo by NLM Photo/Shutterstock)According to its website, Disaster Legal Services has responded to 254 disasters in 45 states and five U.S. territories since 2007. Major efforts included responding to Hurricane Katrina and Hurricane Maria.
FEMA, which is part of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, has faced uncertainty since President Donald Trump took office. While touring disaster areas in California and North Carolina in January, Trump said he was considering eliminating the agency, which coordinates the federal response to and recovery from natural disasters, the Associated Press reported.
Kristi Noem, the secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, has echoed that sentiment, including during a meeting this week with other Trump administration officials, according to coverage from Politico and CNN.
In addition to funding freezes, CNN also reports that FEMA has stalled disaster assistance and started reducing its workforce.
Winding down operations
Brown, who spoke with the ABA Journal on Thursday, says the suspension of Disaster Legal Services comes as it was again handling a record number of federally declared natural disasters.
“Every year, we are seeing an increasing number of disasters,” Brown says. “This year, it was at an all-time fever pitch. We were managing at one time 35 active disaster implementations. That’s more than multiple other years combined.”
In her letter to Disaster Legal Services partners, she explained that FEMA now is denying all requests for disaster-related reimbursements. In the past, the agency would reimburse costs associated with establishing or maintaining a disaster hotline. This included office supplies or hardware, outreach materials and printing fees, and other related costs.
“We are already feeling the impacts of that,” says Brown, noting that Disaster Legal Services began winding down operations related to Hurricane Helene in North Carolina this week. “Without this funding in place, a lot of administrative aspects of coordinating Disaster Legal Services are unsustainable.”
Disaster Legal Services team members can no longer participate in coordination calls with local legal service stakeholders, unless they choose to do so in their personal capacity, Brown also said in her letter to the program’s partners.
“We are still encouraging the partners to continue their operations,” Brown says. “They are legal service organizations. They are going to do what they already do.”
Brown adds that Disaster Legal Services remains available to assist partners with issues related to FEMA or to disaster recovery and response.
“We have our own mission, which is to help disaster survivors,” Brown says. “Our ability to do that is being hampered, and it is forcing us to change what that looks like. But if there are things we can advocate on, tell us, and we will try to lean into that.”
See also:
ABA supports victims of California wildfires
Hurricane Help: Lawyers mobilize to support communities hit by storms
2023 was a record year for Disaster Legal Services program
Write a letter to the editor, share a story tip or update, or report an error.
