for breaking news visit www.couriersun.com OCTOBER 3, 2013 • The CourieR SUN 3 Residents say flood insurance hikes are a SOAKERBY MAGGIE HAYES mhayes@queenscourier.com Skyrocketing flood insurance If You’re Ready to Buy a Home,We are Ready to Help. The State of New York M ortgage Agency offers: Up to $15,000 Down Payment Assistance 1-800-382-HOME(4663) for Housing www.sonyma.org rates could “do more to destroy the community than any storm has ever done,” say hundreds of residents who came out to protest the looming costs. In July 2012, Congress passed the Biggert-Waters Flood Insurance Reform Act, which called on agencies such as FEMA to change the way the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) is run. Through the act, the NFIP will be required to raise flood rates to reflect “true flood risk” for a policyholder, according to FEMA. “They say it’s going to be $400 this year, and $12,000 next year,” said Dorothy McClusky, a 33-year Howard Beach resident. “If the insurance rates go up that high, we’ll have to move.” Residents said that over time, their rates could get as high as $30,000 a year. Rallies protesting the price hikes were held nationwide on September 28. In the borough, people from Breezy Point, Rockaway Beach, Belle Harbor, Hamilton Beach, Howard Beach and Broad Channel packed tightly into Broad Channel’s American Legion to participate. “We’re brought together by a common thread of this outrageous legislation,” said Dan Mundy, Jr., president of the Broad Channel Civic Association. “This act basically will decimate your biggest savings.” “FEMA is the agency that is going to enact this. FEMA also couldn’t find this island for two weeks after Sandy,” Mundy said, met by resounding cheers. The act will over time eliminate all subsidized flood insurance rates for those in participating areas and can increase those rates by two to 10 times their current cost over a five-year period, according to Councilmember Eric Ulrich’s office. New FEMA flood maps additionally place many more residents into Zone A and Zone AE – Biggert- Waters designated areas. “Areas that have never flooded will now be required to carry flood insurance,” said Roger Gendron, president of the Hamilton Beach Civic Association. “Homes would become virtually unsellable.” Last week, the City Council passed a resolution calling upon Congress to amend the legislation. “Sandy was a 700-year storm event,” Mundy said. “Nature took its best shot at us, but we were able to stay here.” “We didn’t survive the 700- year storm to be destroyed by FEMA,” he said. FEMA did not wish to comment. Sandy families may be forced into shelters BY MAGGIE HAYES mhayes@queencourier.com Displaced families whose homes were destroyed by Sandy may find themselves homeless once again. On Friday, October 4, the city’s Department of Homeless Services (DHS) Hotel Program, which provided evacuees with housing in the interim of receiving federal recovery funds, may come to an end, said a city official. To date, 1,313 households participated in the Hotel Program, costing over $70.5 million, according to court documents. The program’s funding was provided by FEMA because the city “does not have a budget to support the Hotel Program,” said the papers. Originally, the program was set to stop by May 31. The decision was taken to court, and the initiative was extended to Monday, September 30, the date that FEMA funding ended. Program participants should be out that following Friday. Local leaders are fighting the new end date and “urge FEMA to continue funding,” said Councilmember Donovan Richards. “Now is not the time to further disrupt the lives of New Yorkers who have suffered more than enough,” he said. As of mid-September, 179 households remain in the program. Seventy-six of those are linked to a permanent housing program, five are waiting for repairs on their own homes, 94 are working with the Temporary Disaster Assistance Program (TDAP) and four no longer receive DHS payments. “For over 10 months, the city has dedicated tremendous effort and resources to more than 3,000 individuals displaced by Sandy. As the court has recognized, the city cannot afford to single-handedly continue this program in the absence of FEMA funding,” said Michael Cardozo of the NYC Corporation Counsel. “All participating households without an exit plan may access a DHS shelter, where social services staff will continue to work closely with the remaining households to identify suitable housing options.” Richards countered this and said “permanent housing, not the shelter system, can and must be the end goal for all.” Court documents stated continuing the Hotel Program would transfer the “financial burden” onto the city, which “does not have a budgeted source of funds to operate” the initiative. THE COURIER/Photo by Maggie Hayes Hundreds of protestors packed into Broad Channel’s American Legion to protest hikes in flood insurance rates. Build it Back program extended BY MAGGIE HAYES mhayes@queenscourier.com The deadline for the city’s Build it Back program has been extended to October 31. Build it Back, a federally-funded program to assist those whose homes, offices and other properties were damaged by Sandy, was originally set to be capped off on September 30. The extension came after a great influx of new customers over the last two weeks and as recently as last weekend, according to the Mayor’s Office of Housing Recovery Operations (HRO). During this time, the program received more than 3,600 new registrants. As of Tuesday, October 1, Queens homeowners and renters signed up for Build it Back totaled close to 10,000, the most in all five boroughs, said Peter Spencer of the HRO. “With the thousands of individual complications people find themselves facing, we need a variety of resources,” said Councilmember Donovan Richards. “There is no one fix for every situation. People are still realizing the extent of the damage that Sandy has done.” To sign up for Build it Back, visit nyc.gov/recovery or call 3-1-1 and ask for NYC Build it Back.
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