Building It Back
As we mark another Hurricane Sandy anniversary, we’d like to take stock of our Build It Back program and share how far we have come since that unprecedented event six years ago.
Funded by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Community Development Block Grant Disaster Recovery funds, our Build It Back program provides assistance to homeowners after all other forms of disaster assistance have been exhausted. Through Build It Back, the City has prioritized homeowners and waterfront communities — ensuring that these New Yorkers have the resources necessary to recover and make their homes and communities more resilient.
To date, 96 percent of 8,300 homes (which house 12,500 families) are finished! These families’ homes have been repaired, elevated, rebuilt, or purchased. Of those, 1,350 homes have been elevated and protected against storm surge, and another 800 homes have been purchased by the City or the State. The projects remaining are among our most complex, including the Courts in Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn, where Build it Back teams are working in partnership with our water and sewer operations staff to provide new water and sewage infrastructure.
Today, 99.9 percent of homeowners have been served and 99 percent of City-managed construction is complete. To get there, construction teams — working in partnership with the NYC Department of Design and Construction and the NYC Department of Housing Preservation and Development — have managed a total of $1.2 billion of individual construction projects across the five boroughs.
In support of this work, borough operation teams have been on the ground in each neighborhood, talking with homeowners, civic organizations, community leaders, and elected officials to ensure smooth operations. Homeowner service groups have helped each individual homeowner through the program, answering questions, assisting with moving, storage, and finding temporary housing, and turning over the keys to their homes at the end of the process. Planning and technical services teams have also contributed innovative suggestions to ensure that our City’s waterfront communities are more resilient for future disasters, including providing elevation certificates to all rebuild and elevation applicants to help lower their flood insurance premiums.
Thank you to everyone who has worked hard to bring recovery and resiliency to New York City’s neighborhoods!
