More than 900 Howard Beach residents, and close to 6,000 others in Queens, have dropped out of or were booted from the city’s Build it Back program since 2014, according to an analysis by Comptroller Scott Stringer.
The comptroller’s study, detailed in a Sept. 25 letter to the Mayor’s Office of Housing Recovery Operations, states Queens had the largest drop in applicants to the trouble-riddled Sandy recovery initiative — from 9,284 who first sought help to 3,584 today.
Many of those dropoffs occurred in Rockaway, and mostly on the western end of the peninsula. In Howard Beach, there are now 936 fewer homeowners in the Build it Back pipeline. Broad Channel saw 530 applicants get out of the program.
Citywide, 20,275 people sought help from the initiative, first established by Mayor Bloomberg in 2013, but now only 8,310 have or are set to be assisted by the program.
Stringer — along with Councilman Mark Treyger (D-Brooklyn), chairman of the Council’s Recovery & Resiliency Committee — said “the reasons why individual applicants have left the program” are not clear, but are “likely attributable to many causes,” including dissatisfaction with projected timelines, people turning to other sources of aid, getting lost in “the tangle of bureaucracy,” and some being removed for not meeting “stringent entry requirements.”
And in some cases, according to the comptroller, some applicants died while waiting for assistance.
13 comments:
Sandy wasn't a free lottery ticket for taxpayer money. They have paid out thousands of claims and millions of dollars. Not every claim gets or deserves a payout.
I remember the story in this blog about nursing home residents who were given money they weren't entitled to and wouldn't pay it back.
The title of this post "Sandy victims died waiting for Build It Back" is misleading. The sentence in the story is "And in some cases, according to the comptroller, some applicants died while waiting for assistance."
Do you suggest it was because their money was delayed? That is irresponsible.
It has been years. Move on.
No it wasn't because their money was delayed. But it's been how many years since Sandy and people still are waiting?
A warning for those who think the government is going to take care of them when the shit hits the fan. You are on your own, never expect help from the government, especially if you are a single homeowner !!
Dead is how they want you, then take your property when your children cant pay your 1/2 million dollar estate and capital gains tax's on that $30K house and investments you bought in 1970 --now worth a million
If anyone has seen the show Treme, which focused on the struggles rebuilding and maintaining communities in New Orleans, that show focused on a similar government rebuild program that was also slow to function.
Safe to say, life imitates art with this obviously designed to fail program. There are even homes in upper class Belle Harbor that are abandoned. To think that this program only a short time ago had a personnel re-haul and still are not getting anything done.
It makes me wonder why the delay, could it be political? Since most of these homes damaged by the storm are in Republican majority areas, which includes a majority of homes in Staten Island.(Although a lot of zombie homes are in areas like Rosedale and Bellerose near the airports,which lean democrat).
The messed up thing is that while they were neglecting build it back, the city and state spent most of their efforts on the boardwalk and on fostering a "foodie" and boozie culture on it to attract tourism and hipshits. It's like the planners were more focused on that than to help the people who invested their finances and lives to settle there.
As for Broad Channel, the homes that are actually being rebuilt there look ridiculous. There a few that don't even look natural or even safe with the one story stilts hoisting them up and are actually incongruous with the many other homes that survived the storm. (I saw one home that was raised high enough that George Jetson could probably park his hover car on it.)
People are clearly being discouraged from remaining in their neighborhoods by the incompetent and shiftless program, but I think just maybe that people are bailing because the sea level rising is too much of threat currently and are moving on in addition to the money not being spent to help them.
And where has this money gone? Or what it reallocated to something else, like something that promotes this administrations version of vibrancy? It's time to get a FOIA for this continuing scandal. Or better yet, go to their office in Howard Beach and demand some answers. Although it's safe to assume that residents have got nothing but obfuscations and the runaround from them. Something tells me that it's going to take a warrant to figure out where the funds went.
NY1 did a special segment and town hall cleverly called Build it Broke a few months back. It's only available for spectrum members now though.
http://www.ny1.com/nyc/all-boroughs/news/2017/05/19/build-it-broke.html#/0
"The most terrifying words in the English language are: I'm from the government and I'm here to help." - Ronald Wilson Reagan ...
And what about all the tax abatements, now known and named by Mario's son as the Affordable New York program, going to the ever-exalted developers, the true kings of New York?
Is city money being hoarded to pay for these coastal tower behemoths under the rubric of affordable housing?
There are just so many possibilities.
This country sends aid faster to overseas victims than it does to it's own people.... What a shame.
'The comptroller also noted the cost of work on Sandy-impacted properties has skyrocketed in recent years.
The average cost for an elevation jumped from $250,000 to $672,525 and reconstructions went from $60,000 to more than $1.1 million.'
Free money. What a scam. It should have been closed down already. If you didn't have insurance or flood insurance (which tax dollars subsidize) then why should I have to pay for you to rebuild?
Democrats always neglect Republican areas period let alone fire or storm damaged area's. This especially when they know the area is small private houses with owners who do not wish to "share" them.
I saw this first hand during the Pine Barrens fires, Mario Cuomo nor President Clinton did shit !! Actually worse by creating
1- a comprehensive land use plan.
2-created the Central Pine Barrens Joint Planning & Policy Commission to screw people even more.
Under this communist deBlasio Belle Harbor hasn't a chance and faces a slow death.
Don't count on your government to save your life.
Not sure who to blame here....
....the government for once again failing miserably on making good on a promise to help its citizens. Or on the private citizens for actually thinking the government was going to solve their problems.
Unfortunately, foolish of them to expect the Government would fix their lives, and shame on those in government who would give them that impression. The government is not going to be able to do anything to put your life back in order as these storms compound each other in the decades to come. Live near the water at your own risk. Move away from the coast as soon as you can.
Any private citizens who thinks the government is going to help them is like a dude wanting to get married. Dont need no promises, priest, preacher, church, etc. What one needs is a psychiatrist to administer medication and a rubber room.
Ned
www.nra.org
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