Seventeen months after Congress authorized up to $16 billion to fix homes wrecked by superstorm Sandy, tens of thousands of people still are living in damaged houses or paying rent on top of a mortgage as they wait for rebuilding help, the Wall Street Journal reported today. About 15,000 New York City residents are seeking aid, but city officials say that only 352 have so far received a check or city-provided home construction. In New Jersey, 2,032 homes are being built or repaired, for more than 11,500 homeowners deemed eligible for rebuilding help, according to the state department of community affairs. The October 2012 storm damaged about 200,000 homes from New Jersey to eastern Long Island, N.Y., while killing 87 people in that region. Three months later, Congress approved the aid, to be distributed by New Jersey, New York state and New York City programs. But delivering it has been slowed by a combination of federal rules invoked to prevent fraud and misspending after Hurricane Katrina, local rules, and certain missteps by local officials and contractors.
