Michael Del Pino in his home in Broad Channel, Queens, which was damaged during Sandy. He's been living in an apartment while waiting for aid. Agaton Strom for The Wall Street Journal
The Bloomberg administration has presented a grand vision to protect the coastline from future storms with towering dunes and flood walls. But homeowners who haven't received money to rebuild said that long-term vision comes at an immediate cost.
"They seem to be doing infrastructure upgrades project ahead of getting homeowners into their homes," said Michael Del Pino, of Broad Channel, Queens, who has lived in an apartment while waiting to get help. "These are worthy causes but perhaps we should get people back into their homes first."
Mayor Michael Bloomberg is drawing political heat from the affected areas. Rep. Michael Grimm, a Republican who represents Staten Island, held a news conference Tuesday criticizing the Bloomberg administration for not allocating more money to homeowners.About $650 million of the first round of federal funding the city received is being spent on housing recovery, while the state is spending about $840 million on far fewer applicants.

The initial resiliency funds will be used for projects including installing stone embankments in places like the south shore of Staten Island, and holding a competition to design an integrated floodwall system.

"We have to establish priorities," said Cas Holloway, deputy mayor for operations. "We're trying to balance them in a way that is going to provide both the maximum amount of help to those hurt by the storm and the maximum amount of protection to New Yorkers in general."City officials said they made difficult decisions about how to protect the most people using limited recovery funds.
The city has prioritized distribution of funding based on financial need, and some fear that not all homeowners will receive aid. So far, the city says it has enough to handle about 4,000 of its 26,000 applicants.
Officials from the city's "Build it Back" program say it would take more than $2 billion to meet everyone's needs. New York City is slated to soon receive another $1.3 billion in federal funds announced at the end of October and a substantial amount of that will go into housing, according to Mr. Holloway.
The city's resiliency plan calls for $20 billion in spending, of which it has secured $10 billion.
A spokesman for Mr. Bloomberg said the city is confident it will be able to help everyone who has applied.
Mr. Del Pino, a city worker, and his wife, a public school teacher, would likely be among the last to receive funds, based on their combined income of $150,000, if the city has enough to cover everyone.
Meanwhile, he says he has used his life savings to pay a $2,000 monthly mortgage for his vacant home and $1,600 in rent to live with his wife and two children in a smaller apartment.
To be sure, the vast majority of homeowners are still waiting to receive help from both the city and state due to a lengthy federal approval process.
In New York state, officials said that the 4,600 homeowners who have applied and are qualified to receive funding are expected to get money. They estimate it will take $2 billion to help all homeowners recover.
State officials decided to focus more on housing in the first round in part because they decided it would boost the overall recovery.
"We wanted to move as quickly as possible to get their homes rebuilt," said Seth Diamond, the state's storm-recovery director. "By doing so you are also in the process of making the state and the communities that people live in stronger."
State officials said they are also spending more than $300 million of the first round of funding on infrastructure measures, including matching local funds for upgrades to the electrical grid and enhancing drainage and flood control at La Guardia Airport.
The city allocated $360 million to rebuilding and improving infrastructure and other city services.
Experts said the differences in funding priorities reflect the unique needs of New York City, where larger resiliency measures are essential to protecting areas dotted with houses spaced just a couple of feet apart or large high-rise apartment buildings and office towers.