New Jersey to receive US$1.46B in federal Superstorm Sandy recovery funding, bringing state's total funding under Community Development Block Grant Disaster Relief to nearly US$3.3B; money will help homeowners, communities rebuild, says senator
Allison Oesterle
LITTLE FERRY, New Jersey
,
October 28, 2013
(press release)
–
On the eve of the one year anniversary of Superstorm Sandy, U.S. Senator Robert Menendez joined HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan, Senator Jeff Chiesa, Senator-Elect Cory Booker, Little Ferry Mayor Mauro Roguseo, Moonachie Mayor Dennis Vaccaro, State Sen. Paul Sarlo and local residents to announce $1.46 billion in federal Sandy disaster recovery funding. This is the second round of Community Development Block Grant Disaster Relief (CDBG-DR) funding, bringing the total allocated for New Jersey to nearly $3.3 billion.
Grantee Second Sandy Allocation (Today) First Sandy Total New Jersey $1,461,000,000 $1,829,520,000 $3,290,520,000
“It’s hard to believe it’s been a year since Superstorm Sandy devastated so many of our communities, and while we have come tremendously far, there is still work left to do,” said Sen. Menendez, who led the fight in the Senate for federal recovery funding and helped shepherd through a $60 billion disaster relief package. “This funding will help homeowners, small businesses and communities, who are still struggling, to rebuild better than before.”
Today’s announcement brings the total CDBG funding for New Jersey to nearly $3.3 billion:
Allocation
(February)
During the announcement in Little Ferry, where Menendez visited 24 hours after Sandy hit, the Senator underscored the “triple whammy” with which residents have been faced over the last year – having been flooded by Sandy, then facing repair and mitigation costs, and then facing astronomical increases in flood insurance costs that were mandated as part of a national flood insurance bill which passed before Sandy hit New Jersey.
“I made a promise to residents to do all I can to remedy those flood insurance increases. You can expect progress on this issue to be announced very soon,” said Menendez, who will introduce bipartisan legislation in the Senate to address the spike in flood insurance rates tomorrow.
Today’s allocation is part of the $60 billion relief package enacted by Congress is in January, which included $9.7 billion in increased borrowing authority for FEMA and $50 billion in appropriated funds (subsequently reduced to $47.9 billion by the sequester). CDBG-DR constituted the largest block of funding in the package, at $16 billion (reduced to $15.2 billion by the sequester).
New Jersey submitted its Action Plan for using CDBG-DR funds to HUD in March, which HUD approved in April. Of the $1.83 billion allocated to NJ in the first round of CDBG-DR funding, the State’s Action Plan targeted approximately $1.2 billion for housing, including $780 million for homeowner assistance, $355 million for renters and rental housing, and $25 million for renters seeking homeownership.
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