NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
Tuesday, July 29, 2014
Hurricane Sandy survivors pled their case to the de Blasio administration Tuesday night, with many still struggling to get back on their feet even as the pace of rebuilding has picked up.
Nearly a thousand people packed the Greater Allen A.M.E Cathedral in Jamaica, Queens for the rebuilding summit hosted by Faith In New York.
Arecelis Cabrera said she and her husband are desperate to get back to their destroyed Far Rockaway home after a contractor stole tens of thousands from them and left them with no money to rebuild.
She said her family huddled in the attic for 12 hours as the storm raged and emerged to find the home destroyed.
"My heart was broken," she said. "I couldn't believe everything we had worked for was destroyed in one moment."
They used their floor insurance money to hire a contractor - who stole $60,000 and disappeared.
Now they're renting a temporary apartment in Bushwick while still paying the mortgage for the wrecked Far Rockaway house.
They've applied for rebuilding help from the city's Build It Back program and are still waiting.
"We just want to go back home," Cabrera said.
Build It Back has now completed construction on 44 homes, started work on 167, and sent out reimbursement checks to 457 homeowners totaling $7.5 million.
Those numbers were all zero when Mayor de Blasio took office. About 20,000 people have applied.
"It has been 21 months today since the storm and too many families are still suffering," said Amy Peterson, de Blasio's head of housing recovery.
"I know that seems small," she said of the number of homes under construction, "But remember we had no projects at the beginning of the year."
She said the program has been plagued by "so much red tape" but is being overhauled.
"Everyone will be served," she said.
The faith groups are also pushing for jobs on the rebuilding effort to go to locals in storm-hit neighborhoods.
Peterson said that is happening at projects that are underway, and pledged to hold a job fair within two months for recovery jobs.
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