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Kyrillos Blasts HUD For Keeping Sandy Victims From Rebuidling

KyrillosState Senator Joe Kyrillos came out swinging this afternoon regarding the news that the Department of Housing and Urban Development denied the Christie Administration’s request to allow victims of Superstorm Sandy to continue to rebuild their homes while they are applying for Reconstruction, Rehabilitation, Elevation and Mitigation (RREM) grants.

Kyrillos implored HUD officials and New Jersey’s congressional delegation to do whatever is necessary to allow Sandy devastated residents to rebuild their lives.

“It’s ridiculous, to say the least, that the people of New Jersey are being denied access to grant money because they are trying to rebuild their lives after the worst storm ever,” Kyrillos said. “The people of my district and the surrounding areas were some of the hardest hit and their federal government should not be hindering their recovery. Our home owners should be able to rebuild as they apply for grant money and I urge our congressional delegation to get to work immediately”

Senator Kyrillos added that the people deserve a reasonable return on their federal tax dollars in the form of Sandy grants.

“A lot of good has come out of the $1.83 billion in initial aid to New Jerseyans, but the reality is that more resources are needed for this state to recover from nearly $37 billion in damages,” Kyrillos said. “New York has received about $4 billion more, so the time is now for HUD officials and our congressmen to turn their eyes to our state.”

The Associated Press reported today that HUD denied a Christie Administration request to waive a rule that all reconstruction work must stop when a property owner applies for RREM grants.   The federal government wants be sure that historical structures are protected and that the properties are rebuilt to the new elevation standards.  No work that is completed prior to a HUD approval of the plans will be reimbursed with RREM grants, even if the work complies with the standards.

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Posted: February 19th, 2014 | Author: | Filed under: 13th Legislative District, Chris Christie, Joe Kyrillos, RREM, Superstorm Sandy | Tags: , , , , , | 5 Comments »

5 Comments on “Kyrillos Blasts HUD For Keeping Sandy Victims From Rebuidling”

  1. Seth Grossman said at 6:38 pm on February 19th, 2014:

    Maybe if Christie didn’t hand out all those $10,000 grants to people who incurred no damage as “relocation money”, for signing affidavits promising not to move out of NJ for three years, there might be money for some of these folks.

  2. A lot of good said at 8:47 pm on February 19th, 2014:

    all those photo ops and hugs did, huh?

  3. KSB said at 9:15 pm on February 19th, 2014:

    Insurance adjuster reports are not being honored by RREM, so if someone rebuilds with their insurance monies as per their adjuster report, they will be short what is needed to be put in escrow to begin reconstruction with RREM. In many cases, insurance allows for additional funds to be disbursed through supplemental claims (should covered repairs cost more than originally anticipated) however, the way RREM us currently structured, no additional funds will ever be recovered from insurance. It’s a flaw in the structure of the grant. It’s set up to spend the most federal money solely by it’s effort to restrict spending… not to mention it keeps many homeowners homeless while they wait for RREM to get moving with their current “approved” applicants. Many have been approved and waiting since May, 2013.

  4. Too Little, Too Late said at 9:47 pm on February 19th, 2014:

    Now, Kyrillos has something to say? Where was he when Christie dropped two firms that assisted with processing claims, and had high termination fees?

    Obviously with two less firms processing claims, the whole process will take even longer.

  5. Christie Needs to Throw Down in Middletown | The Save Jersey Blog said at 4:03 am on February 20th, 2014:

    […] transparently-partisan decision to turn down Sandy waiver requests, stymieing displaced residents’ rebuilding efforts, clearly flies in the face of the President’s promise to tear up red […]