Sandy Recovery Report Card

As we pass the two-year anniversary of Superstorm Sandy, the City and community groups have been working hard to help coastal communities and residents bounce back, but there is still a long road to recovery for many impacted neighborhoods and families. What has gone well in our City’s recovery process, and where do we need to put more focus?

Housing Recovery and Build it Back – Hundreds Started, Thousands to Go

The City’s HUD funded rebuilding program, Build it Back, has started construction on 757 homes, completed repairs on 158 homes, and sent out 1,020 reimbursements, with another 6,400 residents having received an offer from the program. This is significant progress from the beginning of 2014 and encouraging work from the team at the Housing Recovery Office. It is a positive sign to see some of the most impacted families starting to get back into their homes. However, with over 20,000 active registrants in the program, recovery may take years for many people.

Community groups are still working with residents in many tough situations: families who are living on the second floor of a partially repaired home, someone paying both mortgage and rental expenses while waiting for their home to be repaired, and displaced renters unable to return to their neighborhood. Some of the top priorities identified by these groups to help impacted residents are: temporary housing assistance for families displaced during construction, assistance for renters who fell through the cracks, speeding up applicants process even if they are making appeals, and expediting the speed of construction starts. We should be prepared to help impacted residents through the long term and adapt to the increasing strain these families will be under the longer their recovery takes.

Aid for Individuals and Families in Need – Still Available

Even two years later, many impacted residents still do not know that help is available in the form of Disaster Case Managers, Legal Service Providers, and Housing Counselors to support families in accessing recovery programs, preparing necessary paperwork, and advocating for their needs. Many ANHD member groups and other community organizations have been engaged on the front lines in helping their neighborhood recover with these types of dedicated services for Sandy affected residents. These groups have done tremendous work since day one by filling gaps in service and support to thousands of impacted residents as well as building regional coordinated long-term recovery. The City should continue to support this neighborhood-level outreach and help assess the unmet needs that remain over two years later so that impacted families are not left behind in recovery.

Sandy impacted residents still in need of assistance should contact:

• Disaster Case Management 855-258-0483
• Housing Counseling and Foreclosure Prevention: 311 or 855-HOME-456

Housing and Building in the Flood Zone – an Insurance Dilemma

There are several factors taking shape in NYC’s coastal communities that will impact the affordability of thousands of units. The updated FEMA Flood Insurance Rate Maps, which map homes at risk of a 100-year flood (1% chance of flooding each year), are expected to be approved in 2016, almost doubling the number of people required to get flood insurance.

This year, Congress modified the rules regarding flood insurance rates which will likely result in rates going from their low, currently subsidized, amount to as much as $10,000 per year over the next 10-15 years for homeowners in the high-risk zones. This will make coastal neighborhoods unaffordable to low, and moderate-income homeowners and renters, as the tradeoff between the prohibitively high cost of elevating a home or building and the dramatically rising costs of maintaining flood insurance come into effect. The challenge is creating a safe and resilient coastline without displacing affordable housing and longtime residents. Education around these upcoming issues is critical as we move forward in rebuilding after Sandy.

CLICK HERE to check if you’re in a flood risk zone.

CLICK HERE for NYC Furman Center’s report on the price of resiliency improvements for multifamily housing.

CLICK HERE for NYC Department of City Planning information on Retrofitting Buildings for Flood Risk

Building a Resilient Community – ANHD’s Upcoming White Paper

While preparing for the next crisis, and how we tackle future challenges in vulnerable neighborhoods, it is important to look back on how communities and neighborhood organizations were able to respond after Sandy.  The network of community groups engaged in Sandy response and recovery sprang up as a result of established relationships of trust that existed in the community prior to the storm. This social resilience played a strong role in how community networks and social support structures actively responded to the needs of local neighborhoods. By focusing on building connections and relationships around ongoing community challenges, these networks can help build greater community-based preparedness and resilience as we think about protecting not just our coastal communities, but also other neighborhoods vulnerable to potential emergencies.

ANHD will be releasing a white paper on how community resiliency played out among groups in the impacted areas after Superstorm Sandy.