Federal Government Will Now Allow Reimbursement to Sandy Victims for Repairs Made Inbox x

HUD Responds to Congressman’s Request to Revise Guidelines

Long Branch, NJ – Congressman Frank Pallone, Jr. (NJ-06) announced today that the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) has amended its policies that were blocking many New Jerseyans who previously paid to rebuild or repair their homes after Superstorm Sandy from obtaining Community Development Block Grants (CDBG grants). Earlier this month, Pallone called attention to this problem in a letter to HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan and asked for the Secretary to revise the policy.

In the immediate aftermath of Sandy, many homeowners in New Jersey were told they could begin the process of rebuilding their homes and that the funds spent for these purposes would be eligible for reimbursement with federal CDBG funds provided to the state of New Jersey. However, this was not the case for some homeowners whose requests for reimbursement were later rejected because of a HUD regulation requiring environmental reviews for homes that sustained damage in excess of 50% of the property’s value. Unfortunately, homeowners were not made aware of this regulation before they were told that they could begin to rebuild.

HUD made the change to this policy in response to a request from Congressman Pallone in a letter sent to Secretary Donovan earlier this month. The new policy will give the State of New Jersey flexibility to reimburse homeowners with CDBG funds after they had spent money on repairs and reconstruction activities. They would still have to get environmental reviews completed, but they will no longer have to have been initiated before they spent money out of pocket.

“This new policy means that more New Jerseyans are on the road to getting the grants they were promised,” said Pallone. “It’s absolutely critical that we work together in this rebuilding process, and I’m pleased that HUD listened to my concerns and answered them.”

Video: Hurricane Sandy Home Repair, Rebuilding & FEMA Public Info Session

Last Wednesday night, Middletown Township hosted a public information session at Middletown High School North(MHSN) which addressed rules and regulations regarding the repair and rebuilding of homes and businesses damaged by Superstorm Sandy. Township officials, along with officials from Union Beach and Keansburg, joined representatives from The Federal Emergency Management Agency(FEMA) and Small Business Association(SBA) to explain the storm recovery process and to answer questions from those affected by Hurricane Sandy.

The auditorium of MHSN was jammed packed and standing room only, filled with storm victims seeking assistance and wanting to know when they can return to there homes.

Judging from the length of the video, the meeting lasted over 3 hours and quite a bit was discussed. One area of interested that was discussed according to the Asbury Park Press was  that residents who live along the bayshore, who lost there homes or significant portions there of, will be required to meet the new FEMA base flood elevation figure for the first floor living spaces (I believe 13ft) when the homes are rebuilt.

People affected by the storm can log onto the FEMA website, www.Region2Coastal.com for more information.



If you are planning to watching the video, you can save a little time by fast forwarding. The actual information session doesn't start until 10-15 minutes into the video.