file photo Boyd Loving
Hurricane Sandy victims get another big scare
The ceaseless nightmare of Hurricane Sandy victims has a new twist: More than a year after their homes were wrecked, hundreds of people face yet another hurdle that could further delay relief.
The reason is that New Jersey, unlike New York, requires a letter from a local flood expert to certify a home is substantially damaged before relief money is awarded. That may be a reasonable guard against fraud, but the implementation, again, has been botched.
Some towns helped storm victims get these letters, due today. Others didn’t. The result is a bureaucratic mess, housing advocates say.
Sandy victims in less proactive towns say they knew nothing about this requirement until late November or well into December. That’s when the state warned 900 storm victims — nearly 1 in 4 people approved for rebuilding grants — that they’d be bumped to the waiting list unless they could get this letter in by Jan. 15.
Which means that after making it all the way to the finish line, they might lose their long-awaited relief money. Today was a hugely important deadline. Why were so many apparently caught unaware?
The blame falls on both state and local officials. The state agency in charge of the rebuilding program, the Division of Community Affairs, requires these letters to be written by a full-time floodplain manager. That’s a position many towns don’t have. (Star-Ledger Editorial Board)
https://blog.nj.com/njv_
