Build It Back Letter

8/12/2019 Build It Back Letter

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THE COUNCIL

O F

THE CITY OF NEW YORK

March 18, 2014

Honorable Bill de Blasio

Mayor

City Hall

New York, NY 10007

Dear Mayor de Blasio,

We write to you today, with one voice, to express our concern over the state of the

Superstorm Sandy recovery process in New York City and the Build-it-Back program.

Superstom Sandy impacted the lives of tens of thousands of New York City residents. The south

shore of Brooklyn from Canarsie to Coney Island, Seagate Bensonhurst, Red Hook, the

Rockaways, Lower Manhattan, and all across the coast of Staten Island were devastated by

Sandy and are still, sixteen months later, struggling to recover. While over 20,000 New Yorkers

have applied to recovery programs, like Build-it-Back, fewer than 500 applicants have finalized

the process. Recovery programs must speed up the process of disbursing funds in order to help

those in need and to restore confidence in the Citys recovery efforts.

To facilitate the recovery process, we urge you to appoint a Sandy recovery point-person,

at the mayoral level, who can coordinate recovery efforts across city agencies and unite the

various government stakeholders under one umbrella. It is our belief, that creating such a

position would hasten the speed of Sandy recovery and facilitate the free flow of information

from one government agency to the next. With so many moving parts involved in the recovery

process, coordination and information sharing at the highest levels is critical to the success of the

Citys recovery efforts.


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In regards to Build-it-Back, our concerns revolve around the slow pace of the program,

the lack of outreach that was conducted at the outset of the program, and the programs current

lack of leadership. Build-it-Back has been allocated approximately 648 million dollars by the

federal government. According to the most recent available data, the program has only spent 9.6

million. The length of time it has taken for Build-it-Back to use this federal funding is untenable.

More than half of Build-it-Backs current applicants earn less than 80% of their Area Median

Income. These low income families simply cannot wait any longer to rebuild their homes and

lives. We urge you to use your authority as Mayor to speed up the use of these funds, ramp up

the pace of construction, and ensure that reimbursement checks are being sent out.

As you are aware, with the departure of Kathryn Mallon, Build-It-Back has been left

without a permanent director. We urge you to hire a permanent director, who is both a competent

and skillful administrator and has a working knowledge of the web of federal regulations the

program must comply with in order to function. Without strong leadership, Build-it-Back, which

has thus far struggled to fulfill its mission, will surely be unable to provide the housing recovery

assistance so desperately needed by thousands of New Yorkers.

In addition to the current lack of leadership, we were shocked to learn of the staggeringly

small number of applicants in many of the communities hardest hit by Sandy. For instance the

zip code 11224, which encompasses Seagate and Coney Island, had fewer than 900 applications.

This incredibly small applicant pool raises serious questions in regards to the outreach conducted

by the previous administration. In many of the communities ravaged by Sandy, a language

barrier stood in the way of effective outreach. The program did not do enough to work with local

elected officials, community based organizations, houses of worship, and ethnic media outlets to

reach and ultimately help impacted residents and property owners. In addition, many renters, co-

op shareholders, and Mitchell-Lama residents were simply unaware of their eligibility to apply

for aid through the Temporary Disaster Assistance Program administered through Build-it-Back.

Taking that into consideration, we ask that you re-open registration to ensure that all those

impacted by Superstorm Sandy have the opportunity to receive the financial assistance they so

desperately need.

Build-it-Back is the last hope of New Yorkers impacted by Sandy to receive the financial

assistance necessary to rebuild not only their homes, but their lives and communities as well. Not

only do we have a responsibility as elected officials, but we are morally obligated to use federal

recovery dollars to help as many people rebuild as possible. In order to fulfill this obligation, we

must ensure that Build-it-Back is properly administered, registration is reopened, and proper

outreach is conducted. Finally, we need to make sure progress is felt by those who have already

applied. Seeing their fellow New Yorkers helped might instill confidence in people who are

eligible to apply, including those who live in co-ops and Mitchell-Lama buildings.


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Thank you for your consideration and we look forward to working with your

administration to tackle the challenges still faced by the thousands of New Yorkers still suffering

from the impact of Superstorm Sandy.

Sincerely, Sincerely,

Mark Treyger Donovan Richards

Council Member, 47th

District Council Member, 31stDistrict


Eric Ulrich Margaret Chin

Council Member, 32nd

District Council Member, 1stDistrict


Jumaane D. Williams Deborah Rose


District Council Member, 39th

District


Alan Maisel Name


District Council Member, District

Sincerely,

Carlos Menchaca


District
http://council.nyc.gov/d32/html/members/home.shtmlhttp://council.nyc.gov/d32/html/members/home.shtml

Documents

Build It Back Letter