Now Rep. Bill Pascrell, Jr., (D-NJ) thinks that New Jersey Governor Chris Christie needs to spell out a specific plan to help Moonachie residents whose manufactured homes were destroyed by Superstorm Sandy when the state gets a new $880 million federal disaster recovery grant.
The North Jersey News tells MHProNews that Pascrell and other Democrats in the state’s congressional delegation also urged the state to provide grant recipients with more protection from unsavory contractors, to disclose more details about how past grants were spent, and to spell out how to help people still waiting to rebuild whose emergency funds are running out.
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) said in October that New Jersey would get about $880 million in the third and final disaster recovery block grant, on top of previous grants worth nearly $3.3 billion.
The state must provide HUD with a spending plan and accept public comments before it gets the grant, and on January 14, the congressional Democrats released their comments.
Pascrell took aim at the state’s proposal to spend $10 million on repairing or elevating damaged manufactured homes. He said about 80 percent of the manufactured homes affected by Sandy were in his district, mostly in Moonachie, and he wants a detailed plan rather than simply a promised set-aside of money.
“Absent a comprehensive plan … I fear these funds will not result in much-needed relief,” Pascrell said in a letter to Christie. He suggested, for example, that the plan call for elevating all the pads in a manufactured home community, rather than elevating pads on a homeowner-by-homeowner basis.
Christie’s office declined to comment.
Pascrell and the other Democrats in the state’s delegation also signed a letter written by Sen. Bob Menendez that said the state should release full reports on past spending, rather than the “limited summaries” they say Christie has been providing.
The Democrats also called for more state oversight of subcontractors and home builders taking advantage of the federal grants, citing reports that firms had not been vetted for connections to organized crime or worker-safety violations.
Menendez, a Democrat from Paramus, has previously criticized delays in the program the state created with federal funds to help displaced homeowners, known as RREM for Rehabilitation, Reconstruction, Elevation and Mitigation.
“One of the biggest frustrations we hear from disaster victims is not knowing what documents they need to submit,” the Democrats wrote in the letter. “A simple way to remedy this problem is to proactively send each eligible RREM applicant a letter detailing what information is still outstanding.”
The delays in awarding grants for rebuilding have also created a new problem as what were supposed to be short-term emergency funds — from a program known as the Sandy Homeowners and Rental Assistance Program — are running out.
“The state should develop a plan for addressing the financial needs of these storm victims,” the Democrats’ letter said. “Without such action, homeowners already stretched financially by the recovery are left paying for both the mortgage on an uninhabitable house and temporary housing.”##
(Photo Credit: Rep. Pascrell)
Article Submitted by Sandra Lane to – Daily Business News- MHProNews.
