Advocacy

General Information for Fire Families

Please make sure the Postal Service has a current address for you; FEMA and your HOA need to be able to get communications to you in a timely manner.

To receive current information on upcoming events and services or avail yourself of RB United's advocacy services, please register with RB United by phone 858-458-8502 or by completing the on-line form.

If you find yourself overwhelmed by the recovery process, there are several agencies with case management and advocacy services, including Interfaith, Jewish Family Services, and RB United.

Offers for Fire Families

For information from RB United on offers of assistance for fire families, check our blog http://rbforwardfireforum.wordpress.com.

Case Management / Advocacy / Supportive Services

RB United has coordinated counseling services and support groups for the Rancho Bernardo area. Scheduled events and groups are listed on the calendar section of this website.

Individual counseling and/or support group services are provided by the following agencies:

Hope UMC Counseling Center, ediedavis1@yahoo.com or 619-218-2874
Wildfire Recovery Project, 760-270-8882
Fired Up Sisters, www.firedup.org
San Diego Play Therapy, 858-675-9600
Interfaith Community Services, 760-489-6380
Jewish Family Service, 1-800-295-4254 or http://www.jfssd.org

Poway Unified School District is providing counselor support at schools with fire-impacted students; contact your school's counseling services for assistance.

To help families with children who have emotional issues as a result of the recent fires, Palomar Family Counseling Service Inc. will open new groups beginning Monday. There is no fee and they will be available for as long as needed. Groups will be conducted at offices in Escondido, Poway and Fallbrook. For more information and a schedule, call (760) 741-2660 in Escondido; (858) 748-3610 in Poway; and (760) 731-3235 in Fallbrook.

Advocacy/case management services are provided by RB United. Please call 858-485-8502 or complete the on-line form to request services.

Case Management and Counseling Services are provided by Interfaith Community Serfices and Jewish Family Service.

Jewish Family Service, http://www.jfssd.org or (800) 295-4254.

Interfaith Community Services has designated a full-time, bilingual social worker to work specifically with families and individuals affected by the fires. In addition to ongoing case management and counseling, available assistance includes: rental/mortgage/new move-in assistance, motel vouchers, funds for prescription assistance, bus passes, gas cards, food cards, and gift cards. If you or someone you know is in need of assistance, please contact Marla Cruz, Disaster Relief Specialist, Interfaith Community Services, 760-489-6380, ext. 230 or mcruz@interfaithservices.org.

Taxes

Tax Reassessment information (provided by Merrilee Boyack, Poway City Councilwoman):

To have your tax payment placed on hold, with no penalty assessment: If you file the calamity claim form, your tax payment is placed on hold and no penalties will be assessed. Your property will then be reassessed (the form will trigger it -- you don't have to do anything else). The Tax Collector will then send out an adjusted tax bill for you to pay. You then pay that lower amount. When you have a permit to rebuild your house, they are notified. Your property then will be reassessed.

If you build a substantially similar house, your assessment will be the same as it was (with full Prop 13 protection.)
If you build a smaller home, your assessment will be the lesser of the previous assessed value or the full market value.
If you build a bigger home, you will have the same assessment as you did before PLUS that portion which is bigger is reassessed and added. For example, if you had a 2,000 sq. ft. home and built a 3,000 sq. ft home, you would have the previous assessed value PLUS the assessment on the 1,000-foot increase.

Property tax relief information: To request a reassessment from San Diego County, please call (858) 505-6262. The County website, www.co.san-diego.ca.us/ttc/pt_exem_excl.html#calamity, has information about property tax relief for San Diego's fire-impacted households.

Members of the CA society of CPA's are offering free financial advice to fire families. To meet with a volunteer, please call 1-800-922-5272 ext. 6242.

For information on federal tax relief, visit the following IRS link: http://www.irs.gov/newsroom/article/0,,id=175259,00.html

California Wildfire Recovery Assistance for Intuit Customers

Intuit is offering free or replacement software for Quickbooks, Simple Start, QuickBooks ProAdvisor Program, ProSeries, EasyACCT, Lacerte, and Quickbooks Enterprise Software (Small Business & Accountant customers); Quicken Personal Finance Software, Quicken Rental Property Manager, and Quicken Medical Expense Manager; free downloads of 2006 TurboTax; startup assistance for customers who experienced a total loss of their business; free replacement of damaged credit card processing terminals and a waiver of customer service fees for one year for merchant customers.

Insurance

Insurance help for fire-impacted families is available through an organization called United Policyholders. Anyone who lost property in the wildfires can get answers to insurance questions and access to help via a special section of United Policyholders' website, (http://www.unitedpolicyholders.org/socal_wildfire.html) or by taking advantage of the organization's programs. United Policyholders is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization dedicated to empowering consumers with the information and support they need to get the full benefits of their insurance coverage.

Reliable info/tips/sample claim forms, etc.: You can access free personal property/contents claim worksheets, a guide to depreciation, and a library of tips on every aspect of getting an insurance claim paid on time and in full at www.uphelp.org. Copies of UP's book, The Disaster Recovery Handbook & Personal Property Inventory Guide, are available at the RB United Coalition office.

Meetings: The "Roadmap to Recovery" meeting series is a collaborative effort by coalition members United Policyholders and Rancho Bernardo Community Presbyterian Church. The educational meetings focus on the full range of post-fire recovery issues relating to construction, insurance, mortgages, and emotional health. Seminars are scheduled on select Thursdays beginning at 7:00 p.m. at at Rancho Bernardo Community Presbyterian Church,17010 Pomerado Road. All meetings include insurance interest group "breakout" sessions facilitated by a United Policyholders Disaster Recovery Mentor, (see below). For further information, contact Outreach Coordinator Karen Reimus at Karen@unitedpolicyholders.org Upcoming meetings are posted on the Calendar page of this website.

One-on-one support from "been there" volunteers: The UP Mentor Program provides free help from San Diegans who have "been there" and will be a listening ear or a source of ideas for overcoming recovery obstacles. Mentors are organized by the insurance company they negotiated their own claim with, but you can contact any of them. To get a copy of the list of available mentors, send an email to Karen@unitedpolicyholders.org, or call (415) 393-9990. All the mentors are people who gained valuable know-how on navigating large insurance claims and overcoming obstacles to rebuilding the homes they lost in the 2003 wildfires in the San Diego area."
2007 Insurance Reforms are listed in detail at the following website: http://www.rbcommunitycouncil.com/pdf-files/fire-claims-handling-reforms-122807.pdf

Legal Resources

Free Legal Assistance: Legal Help, a toll-free legal assistance hotline provided by FEMA- ABA/YLD, 1-866-636-9041, is available from 9 AM- 5 PM for fire victims who cannot afford a lawyer. This service, titled Wildfire Legal Assistance, San Diego County Bar Association, the San Diego Volunteer Lawyer Program, and Legal Aid Society of San Diego, in conjunction with San Diego's various Bar associations and law-related organizations. Legal issues may range from insurance coverage to landlord-tenant concerns to employment quesions. More information is available at http://www.sdcba.org/disasterrelief/.

United Policyholders has a list of attorneys from Consumer Attorneys of California at http://www.unitedpolicyholders.org/socal_wildfire.html.

Rebuilding

Go to our Rebuild page for information on rebuilding.