Mayor Bill de Blasio at the site of a home under construction through Build it Back in Broad Channel, Queens. (Staten Island Advance/Anna Sanders)
CITY HALL -- Build it Back is on pace to meet year-end goals, reimbursing so many homeowners in the last few weeks that the city set a new target for checks sent.
The Hurricane Sandy housing recovery program has authorized construction on 903 homes and sent 1,830 reimbursement checks at $33 million as of Monday, according city figures.
Officials originally aimed to send 1,500 checks by Dec. 31, but the program blew past that figure in mid-November. The city now hopes to mail 2,000 checks by the end of the year.
Build it Back is expected to meet that new target, as well as the goal of 1,000 authorized construction starts.
When asked how the city sets Build it Back goals, Mayor Bill de Blasio joked in October that officials use a dart board. In reality, he said, targets are the attainable highest numbers.
"We chose the number that we think is a stretch, but that we believe is within our reach," de Blasio said.
As of Monday, 576 reimbursement checks totaling $7.7 million have been sent to Staten Island homeowners and construction has been authorized to start on 342 borough homes. Construction has finished on 120 Island projects, according to city figures.
That's 199 more checks and 30 more authorized construction starts since Oct. 28, two years after Sandy devastated Staten Island. Fifty-one construction projects on the borough have completed in the last six weeks.
When de Blasio took office, there was virtually no progress on Build it Back. Only 451 applicants citywide had had an option review meeting as of Dec. 31, 2013, including just 132 on Staten Island.
The city overhauled Build it Back earlier this year and surpassed targets set for the end of summer. Many local elected officials have welcomed the progress under de Blasio, but they've stopped short of outright praising the program when so many homeowners are still waiting for relief.
The city aims to quadruple the overall pace of Build it Back next spring by increasing the number of contractors. Since the program resolved an outstanding issue with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development over reimbursements in September, the number of checks sent has increased about 220.5 percent.
De Blasio spokeswoman Amy Spitalnick said the mayor's overhaul helped streamline Build it Back, resulting in more flexibility for homeowners and a more "hands-on approach to management and communication."
"As a result, homeowners are now seeing dramatic progress," Ms. Spitalnick said.
More than half of the program's applicants citywide have been made an offer compared to none at the beginning of the year.
"We have much more work to do, and Build it Back will continue to expedite relief until every homeowner is served," Spitalnick added.
Just under 7,000 applicants citywide have withdrawn or become unresponsive from the program. This includes 1,595 Staten Island homeowners.
The city continues to reach out to these applicants, both through letters and door-to-door canvassing, and more people who withdrew are returning to the program. Eligible homeowners can reactive their application at any time.
There are about 14,000 active Build it Back participants, including some 3,000 on Staten Island.
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