The $1.8 billion recently allocated for use in Community Development Block Grants, or CDBGs, will be used primarily to help residents and small businesses affected by Hurricane Sandy recover, U.S. Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Shaun Donovan said Thursday afternoon.
Joined by Gov. Chris Christie in Sea Bright, Donovan said the funding is the first chunk of approximately $16 billion that will help homeowners along the East Coast rebuild, filling the gaps between aid provided by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and loans issued by the Small Business Administration (SBA).
The grant funding is part of the more than $50 billion aid package approved by Congress less than a month ago.
With storms like Sandy, known, misleadingly, as once-a-century storms, occuring more frequently, aid being distributed needs to be used to rebuild communities more resiliently, he said. For every single dollar spent on flood mitigation, Donovan said, $4 are saved in future recovery efforts.
Currently, Donovan said HUD is working with the governor's office in developing recovery plans and that funding will come shortly. He cautioned that recovery, in many cases, won't come quickly, and that for some residents, rebuilding could be a process that takes several years.
Donovan said he understands the plight of those impacted by Sandy's destruction. He promised to conitinue working with the governor's office until recovery is complete.
Christie, echoing a refrain used often since Sandy hit New Jersey's coast at the end of October, asked residents to be patient. With funding secured, he said, restoring the shore can now begin in earnest.
Translated, this means that your average middle class victim won't get squat, but there will be whole lot of tax dollars spent on red tape that was never going to be .
BTW, if my place floods again this time from raising rain water is there a new FEMA regulation that is going to make it my fault?
There is no difference between either gang of thiefs and this storm should be proof to everyone out there that still has any brain cells still firing...... i keep trying to WAKE UP the sheep...........Time is running OUT !!!!!
One particular issue that left me shaking my head as I viewed the conference, was the announcement that a sizable portion of "rellief" money was being allocated for an "aggressive advertising campaign" to lure tourists to the shore. I acknowledge how important a thriving business environment is to our region, but do not understand how such a campaign would be a priority with so many people displaced from their homes, and waiting and waiting, while mired in red tape. Of course, many businesses are getting a pass when it comes to elevating, while homeowners await the formation of a policy to know if Hazard Mitigation grants will even be available to them. It's as silly as the Biggert-Waters Act that was affects so many of us, being signed into law prior to the re mapping of the most densely populated region of the country. Let your legislators know it's time to take their hands out of the cookie jar, and get their priorities straight. www.Facebook.com/StopFemaNow