NEW YORK (AP) — When Superstorm Sandy left Denise Erickson’s home with a collapsed foundation, a loan from the Small Business Administration looked like the best deal in town. She got more than $150,000 from the SBA to help fix her family’s Bellmore home, but the loan has left her with a $651 monthly payment and… Read the rest of this entry »After Closing On A RREM Grant, DCA Says A New Home For Vietnam Vet Is Not In The Cards
By Art Gallagher
Russell Card Jr removes his “family crest” from his family’s home in Highlands in preparation for demolition . Photo via facebook
A Vietnam Veteran from Highlands and his 65 year-old wife had their expectations of a new home crushed last week when their RREM approved builder informed them that a stop work order had been placed on their project by the Department of Community Affairs, with no explanation. The family had prepared their house for demolition, based upon promises from DCA/RREM, and now fear they will be without a home.
Russell Card, a 72 year-old Vietnam Veteran from Highlands closed on his $150,000 RREM grant on July 28. He put up his $18,000 escrow to cover the difference between the cost of the project and the amount granted. Card, his wife Maureen and son Russell Jr, 35, prepared their home (which was built in the 1890’s and in the family since 1933) for demolition. They moved most of their belongings into a POD on their immaculately maintained property and moved themselves into an apartment the size of the living room in the Bay Avenue house they have lived in since 1986. By mid-September all the utilities were disconnected at the house and it was ready for demolition before their new home would be built. The funding for the new home was the RREM grant, a gap grant of $30,000 from Gap Funding Initiative and $17,762 that was remaining from a $55,000 grant Mrs. Card had received from her employer, CareOne, after Sandy filled their home with eight feet of water on October 29, 2012.
Posted: October 1st, 2014 | Author: Art Gallagher | Filed under: Chris Christie, Christie Administration, DCA, Department of Community Affairs, FEMA, Flooding, Highlands, Housing, Hurricane Sandy, Monmouth County, RREM, Superstorm Sandy | Tags: America's Home Plan, CBI-Shaw, Chris Adler, Christie Administration, Community Health Law Project, DCA, Deanna Loicono, Department of Community Affairs, Highlands, Lisa Ryan, Monmouth County, Reconstruction Rehabilitation Elevation and Mitigation, RREM, RREM grants, Russell Card, Russell Card Jr, Russell Card Sr | 10 Comments »
N.J. Congressman: Sandy funds still needed for infrastructure, businesses (via NJ.com)
FREEHOLD TOWNSHIP – While public officials welcomed the news that the latest round of Hurricane Sandy recovery money will cover the New Jersey’s unmet need for housing funds, one congressman says that the funding does not go far enough. U.S. Rep…
NJ has distributed less than 25 percent of Sandy aid (via NJ.com)
About a year after the federal government allocated $1.8 billion to New Jersey to rebuild after Hurricane Sandy, the state has distributed less than a quarter of the disaster relief aid, according to a new report. State officials, however, claim they…
Sandy elevation program backlog will ease by end of summer, top NJ official says (via NJ.com)
New Jersey’s top environmental official said today he expected a backlog of applications for a Hurricane Sandy elevation program to be cleared by the end of the summer. Department of Environmental Protection Commissioner Bob Martin said roughly 2,…
By Art Gallagher, [email protected]
When disaster hits, natural or man made, Americans put aside their differences and come together to handle the emergency.
We saw it with 9-11. Most recently in New Jersey we saw it with Superstorm Sandy.
Once the emergency is over and the federal money is flowing, the politics…partisanship and patronage starts. We saw it with 9-11. We’re living it with Sandy.
Posted: April 13th, 2014 | Author: Art Gallagher | Filed under: 2014 Congressional Races, 2014 Elections, 2014 U.S. Senate race, 2016 Presidential Politics, 2017 NJ Gubernatorial Politics, Bob Menendez, Chris Christie, Chris Smith, Christie Administration, Congress, Cory Booker, Democrats, Department of Community Affairs, Department of Homland Security, Frank Pallone, George W Bush, Housing, Hurricane Sandy, Jennifer Beck, Jersey Shore, NJ Democrats, NJ State Legislature, RREM, Superstorm Sandy | Tags: Congressman Chris Smith, Congressman Frank Pallone, Disaster Recovery, Disaster Relief, HUD, New Jersey Congressional Delegation, RREM, Senate President Steve Sweeney, Senator Jennifer Beck, Shaun Donovan, Superstorm Sandy | Comments Off on The Politics Of Disaster ReliefSix state Senators representing Monmouth and Oceans Counties have written to New Jersey’s U.S. Senators and Members of Congress asking for help in correcting inequities and inefficiencies in the federal government’s response to Superstorm Sanday.
In a letter dated March 31, Senators Jennifer Beck and Joe Kyrillos of Monmouth County, Robert Singer, Christopher Connors and James Holzapfel of Ocean County and Sam Thompson of Middlesex raised six issues concerning Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP), the Small Business Administration (SBA), FEMA’s Hazard Mitigation Grant Program and the Rehabilitation, Reconstruction, Elevation and Mitigation(RREM) grant program.
With all those agencies and initials, how could anything be going wrong?
Posted: April 3rd, 2014 | Author: Art Gallagher | Filed under: FEMA, RREM, Superstorm Sandy | Tags: Christopher Connors, FEMA, HUD, James Holzapfel, Jennifer Beck, Joe Kryillos, NFIP, Robert Singer, RREM, Sam Thompson, Sandy recovery, Superstorm Sandy | 1 Comment »Sweeney: RCAs “put poor white folk and poor black folk out of town”
Hornik: “No one in Trenton can honestly say that COAH is working”
Senate President Sweeney rejected out of hand an idea brought forth by Marlboro Mayor Jonathon Hornik this week that could potentially release $184 million in dormant funds for the benefit of Superstrom Sandy victims.
Hornik called for the reinstatement of Regional Contribution Agreements (RCA), in order to unlock $184 million in COAH funds to help residents impacted by Superstorm Sandy rebuild their homes in an OpEd piece published on MMM and PolitickerNJ.
RCAs were a practice that was in place to build affordable housing in New Jersey from 1985 through 2008 under the Fair Housing Act, whereby communities that had raised affordable housing funds through development could transfer those funds, and their obligation to build affordable housing within their own community, to other communities with an immediate need. The legislature and Governor Corzine outlawed RCAs in 2008.
Assemblyman Declan O’Scanlon issued a statement commending Hornik and said,”When the Democrat leadership in Trenton killed the RCA program it was bad, short sighted policy that many of us knew would come back to bite us. Its flaws are now magnified by the plight of Sandy victims as many towns struggle with the economic burdening of rebuilding.”
Posted: March 21st, 2014 | Author: Art Gallagher | Filed under: COAH, Declan O'Scanlon, Jon Hornik, Superstorm Sandy | Tags: Declan O'Scanlon, HUD, Jon Hornik, Keansburg, RCA, Regional Contribution Agreements, RREM, Seante President Steve Sweeney, Steve Sweeney, Superstorm Sandy | 4 Comments »
Sweeney’s ‘Sandy Bill of Rights’ tour to continue in Keansburg (via NJ.com)
TRENTON — As Hurricane Sandy victims continue to complain about New Jersey’s recovery efforts, state Senate President Stephen Sweeney will continue this week to push legislation he says is designed to help them. Sweeney (D-Gloucester) plans to make…
Hurricane Sandy victims make do in trailers as they wait to rebuild (via NJ.com)
Tina Napalo lived in a bungalow-style house on Fourth Street in Union Beach for more than 20 years. “I didn’t have everything,” said the 40-year-old mother of four, but, “it took me a long time to get what I had.” Then Hurricane Sandy hit.…
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