Residents Still Waiting for Sandy Relief

This story was updated at 4:41 on 4.9.13.

Story by Jeff Lipton 

Anita Daly longs to ride her bicycle on the Long Beach boardwalk once again. But while the 2.2-mile span is well on its way to being reconstructed, the same can’t be said for Daly’s New Hampshire Street home, which was heavily damaged in the Oct. 29 storm. 

About 58 percent of her home sustained damage, which means she must demolish it or rebuild it and lift it on an eight-foot foundation to meet the area’s building and flood codes. She was told it will cost her up to $100,000 to renovate and elevate the house, which her insurance won’t come close to covering. Demolishing the building and starting from scratch will cost her about $200,000, she said.

Residents said they are tired of waiting for financial help and are ready to begin the process of rebuilding by contacting architects and contractors, but are afraid they may not have enough to cover all costs.

“I would have to take that money out of my own pocket and I don’t have that kind of money,” said Daly, who is renting a $1,000-a-month Manhattan apartment with her husband.

“But I’m dying to get back in there,” she added. “I’ve never experienced anything as frustrating as this.”

Daly hopes the Federal Emergency Management Agency could offset some of the costs at the beginning of the reconstruction process. FEMIS is offering up to $30,000 to flood insurance policyholders for the Increased Cost of Compliance (ICC) to lift the house, but it may not be available until after the house has been rebuilt, she said. She would find it a huge help if FEMA could release that money in $10,000 increments.

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John Mills, a FEMA spokesman, said that if homeowners are registered with his agency, there are a host of grants and low-interest loans available to them. 

“I understand that people are frustrated, but for some folks there may not be funding to take care of all of their needs,” Mills said. “Every effort is being made so that these people have access to every program out there.” 

April 13 is the deadline for Sandy survivors to register with FEMA and return their loan applications from the Small Business Administration (SBA). In Nassau County 54,800 SBA loan applications were sent out and only about 15,000 were filled out and returned to the agency. Roughly $516 million in loans have been approved, according to the SBA. 

Milles said SBA and FEMA representatives are still stationed at the disaster recovery center at the Recreation Center, 700 Magnolia Blvd., from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m., now through Friday. On April 13, the disaster recovery center will become a disaster loan outreach center operated by the U.S. Small Business Administration beginning at 9 a.m..        

If the applicants are deemed not eligible, they will be referred back to FEMA for additional grant money. 

FEMA has already paid out $305 million in grants to Sandy survivors in Nassau, with a large portion going to Long Beach, since it was one of the hardest hit areas, said Mills. 
In addition, 139 households in Nassau County are staying at hotels at FEMA expense and that temporary hotel program has cost the agency $16 million, Mills said. 

“I don’t want to see people slip through the cracks, which is why they should register with FEMA,” he added. 

But John Deely, whose New Hampshire Street home sustained 59 percent in damages, said filling for assistance has not been easy.

“We contacted FEMA and they gave us such a runaround it was laughable,” said Deely, who is living now in a one-bedroom apartment in Long Beach with his wife and two elementary-school children. “We filled out so many applications and we haven’t seen anything yet.”

He said he found out he is eligible for a $46,000 SBA loan but in order to get it, he must insure the contents of his home against future flooding.

“If the home is going to be raised 13 feet in the air, what are the chances the contents are going to be damaged?” Deely said. “You’re almost better off going to your own bank for a home improvement loan and being done with it.”

Many residents said they hope to get started soon with the rebuilding process so that they could move back into their homes sometime during the summer.

Deely was told that residents will not see the ICC money until after the construction has been completed and approved.

“I would love to see that ICC money up front,” Deely said. “That would be a huge help.”

Mark Cozine, whose Long Beach home sustained 50.6 percent in damages, said he was told that if homeowners pay for construction, they will not be reimbursed by the government. He would like to see FEMA waive retroactive requirements, as it did with Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans in 2005.

Cozine, his wife and two children are now living in his sister’s house in Long Beach and his sister has moved in with her parents in New Jersey.

“We have to move back eventually,” said Cozine, who has registered with FEMA. “There’s no sense in paying a mortgage on a house if you are not living there.”

He said he hopes to begin the reconstruction by May 1, but he’s not sure if any financial assistance will be waiting for him.

“The money may be there or it may not be there,” Cozine said. “I already tapped into my retirement fund, I stopped payments into my children’s college account and I stopped making investments. We’re definitely trying to move forward.”

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