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SIERRA VISTA — A hotline that gives free legal advice to Arizona senior citizens is facing the chopping block after state budget cuts.
The Arizona Elder Hotline is a free service provided by the nonprofit Southern Arizona Legal Aid and is designed to help people 60 years old and older deal with civil cases, said Sharon Rauseo, managing attorney for the Elder Law Hotline.
The hotline will be shut down at the end of the month after funds for SALA were cut by the state Legislature.
“Because of the statewide budget crunch, we’re losing the funding,” Rauseo said.
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The hotline was established in 1992 after being awarded a grant, she said. The hotline currently deals with more than 3,000 cases a year, with two part-time attorneys providing the support.
Some common problems the hotline assists with include divorce, Social Security and housing issues.
“We help a lot of people with evictions,” she said.
The hotline normally responds to callers within 24 hours, which is especially important when it comes to evictions problems, Rauseo said.
“(They) can get a notice on non-payment of rent, and then two weeks later they can be locked out of their house,” she said.
Many people who call the hotline seek financial help.
“Probably the biggest problem is debt collection issues,” she said. “Some may have gotten behind in their mortgages and used their credit cards and now they’re in debt. We spend a lot of time talking to people about why they don’t have to file for bankruptcy.”
Although a large portion of the calls the hotline receives can be dealt with over the phone by staff, they do not hesitate to tell people to get representation should they need it.
“A big part of it is letting people know that they’re on a deadline and they’ve got to act,” Rauseo said.
There are fears that without the advice made available by the hotline, many people with relatively simple legal problems could find themselves in more trouble.
“Many of the callers call in to prevent legal problems from getting worse,” said Anthony Young, executive director of Southern Arizona Legal Aid. “Our fear is that people will now get in greater legal distress.”
Even though the hotline does not cater specifically to low-income individuals, some who call have limited financial support.
“Most are supported only by their Social Security benefits,” Young said. “It’s going to cost society more to get those people out of these problems than society was helping them with in the first place.”
Other aspects of SALA are feeling the pressures of tighter budgets.
“Our whole program has been affected just because of the general problems with the economy,” Rauseo said. “We’re looking at a budget crunch for our entire program.”
Though similar agencies have compensated for the cuts with layoffs, Rauseo said they are struggling to not go down that path.
“We’re fighting desperately not to do that.”
There are entities that are trying to help keep the program afloat.
“There is an effort that is being made by the State Bar of Arizona,” Young said.
The charitable arm of the state bar, the Arizona Foundation for Legal Services and Education, has been scrambling to get enough money to keep the program open for the remainder of the year.
“They’ve gotten together with the Area Agencies on Aging,” he said.
The cost of keeping the hotline operating is nearly $100,000 a year, Rauseo said. She fears the closure of the program may cause a bottleneck effect on the other methods of support that SALA provides.
“The seniors in our service area can continue to call Legal Aid if they are financially eligible,” she said.
The cutoff point for someone seeking free legal aid from SALA for a single-person household is $1,083 a month. A two-person household must make less than $1,733 a month. People who normally needed to only call the hotline will now have to go through the standard process of applying for help, increasing wait time, Rauseo said.
With other options in place, seniors will still be able to make use of SALA if they meet those financial standards, however Rauseo laments the loss of the hotline, and the help it provided.
“People are sleeping better at night because of our hotline,” she said.
HERALD/REVIEW reporter Derek Jordan can be reached at 515-4680 or by e-mail at derek.jordan@svherald.com.
WHERE TO CALL
The Elder Law Hotline, 1-800-231-5441, will continue to be in operation until Oct. 1. Those who wish to make a donation to the hotline can call (520) 623-9465.
Yep wrote on Sep 22, 2008 4:42 AM: