There are in fact forms of assistance that they may be able to obtain. Generally, duty counsel services are provided to anyone who arrives at a court without representation. You do not need to go through a legal aid application process to obtain duty counsel services. Some jurisdictions also provide expanded duty counsel services where a duty counsel will follow your case throughout.
Legal aid plans are also setting up information lines where people can obtain summary advice without having to go through an application process. Certain web-based portals are being experimented with in different jurisdictions. For example, the Province of British Columbia has set up MyLawBC, which provides pathways for people to follow with different kinds of legal issues. It is completely free and requires no application. It's actually being funded by the Law Foundation of B.C., so it is the lawyers there who are giving back.