If you’re affected by the Los Angeles fires, you may want to determine if you are eligible for funding by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). Hypebot has a handy page devoted to resources for those affected by the fires that you can access here.

It’s always a good idea to let FEMA tell you what the current rules are that apply to your particular situation as these may change. The basic rules are available on the FEMA website and are quite extensive. You can access the FEMA rules on FEMA’s website here. This falls under the general heading of “eligibility requirements for FEMA assistance”. This post is not meant to be legal advice, just a heads up about some of the bureaucracy involved with disaster relief.

Some of this involves proving who you are, your citizenship status, residence and a few other things. FEMA lists the kinds of documents they accept to prove eligibility. As these are also the kinds of documents that may get lost in a rushed exit from your residence in the face of a fire or were stored in bank safe deposit box in a bank that burned down, consider how you are going to get these documents together. If you have been blessed enough not to have been affected by the fires, consider organizing these documents in an cloud based or paper folder that you can grab in a hurry or access online at any time (or both).

Sometimes you may be eligible for a crowd funded charitable source of money like gofundme. Realize that this very likely has to be disclosed to FEMA and is addressed in their online FAQ:

When individuals apply for federal emergency aid through FEMA, FEMA assesses their needs and what aid they have already received from other sources. This includes any funds raised through platforms like GoFundMe.

Here’s how it generally works:

• Duplication of Benefits: FEMA’s assistance is designed to help individuals and communities recover from disasters, and it cannot duplicate the benefits received from other sources. If fire victims receive aid through GoFundMe or other donations for the same expenses FEMA would cover (like home repairs, temporary housing, medical expenses, etc.), those funds might be counted against the federal assistance they’re eligible for.
  
• Transparency and Documentation: When applying for federal aid, it’s crucial for individuals to be transparent about all the financial assistance they have received. FEMA will require documentation of all income sources, including any funds from GoFundMe.
  
• Types of Assistance: While GoFundMe can provide immediate relief for specific needs, FEMA assistance covers a broader range of recovery efforts. It’s important to understand that FEMA provides different types of aid which might not be addressed by GoFundMe campaigns, such as grants for rebuilding and repair, rental assistance, and other necessary expenses not covered by insurance.

To sum it up:

1. Setting up a GoFundMe page doesn’t automatically disqualify fire victims from FEMA aid.
   
2. It’s important to disclose all received funds when applying for federal assistance to avoid duplication of benefits.
   
3. GoFundMe donations might affect the amount of federal aid provided, depending on the use of the funds.

It may help to state that a GoFundMe is to cover items not covered by FEMA with the understanding that you will likely have the need before you get approved by FEMA, and the GoFundMe monies may be available sooner than the FEMA monies. There will likely be a true up between the two at some point.

When in doubt, ask FEMA if you apply for aid.