11 years after Superstorm Sandy, NY Rising recovery agency shutting down

On the 11th anniversary of Superstorm Sandy's devastating blow to Long Island's South Shore, thousands of homeowners have successfully rebuilt — many with the help of NY Rising, the state entity charged with disbursing federal recovery aid from the storm. 

Agency officials reported last week it had awarded $1.2 billion to more than 11,500 applicants in Nassau and Suffolk counties.

But as the NY Rising Homeowner Recovery Program prepares to shut down, there remains some confusion over who needs to pay back the grant money the agency gave out. Some homeowners who didn't complete the work on time, or didn't meet requirements for a hardship appeal, were faced with the prospect of paying NY Rising back hundreds of thousands of dollars they received to elevate and rehab their homes.

Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) authored a provision last year that eliminated the federal deadlines for repaying those grants, a practice known as clawbacks.

Schumer, the Senate majority leader, sent a letter to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development earlier this year saying the change meant qualified "homeowners who received aid to rebuild and raise homes have ample time to work with New York State to continue and complete their repairs."

But a spokesman for Schumer said it would still be up to New York State to decide whether people met hardship requirements for waiving clawbacks. And NY Rising said in a statement that HUD "still hasn't provided guidance on how removing or extending any deadlines applies to NY Rising's obligation to recapture funds that were not used correctly."

NY Rising has waived such clawbacks in some cases, based on hardship appeals. But the deadline for those — extended several times — expired as of Sept. 30. NY Rising said more than 300 hardship waivers have been granted out of more than 370 applications.

The program stopped accepting applications in 2014, and participants must have completed their final inspection process in 2021, officials said last week. 

Some homeowners left behind

While officials in places where Sandy struck the hardest praised the program, they acknowledged there are homeowners who have been left behind — some for reasons related to NY Rising regulations as well as problems with contractors.

"I would say NY Rising helped significantly to restore the homes in Freeport," said the village's mayor, Robert T. Kennedy. "We had over 3,400 homes that were flooded by Superstorm Sandy with 3 to 5 feet of saltwater. The majority have been restored, and it was a credit to NY Rising," he said, estimating 90% of damaged homes in the village were restored, "including my own."

Kennedy added: "However, several homes were not completed because either the contractor or owner took the money and never completed repairs." 

The village has been hiring contractors to make exterior repairs to some of the homes whose renovations were not completed, Kennedy said. "It's a quality-of-life issue," he said, noting neighbors have complained about unsightly or dangerous conditions of the damaged homes. For instance, Kennedy said the village this year knocked down a home that had been lifted about 40 feet and left resting on wooden cribbing for 11 years, which he said endangered the house next door.

"The village will perform those repairs and bill the owners for it on their taxes," he said. "We're bringing the exterior of these houses up to a standard of living for the neighborhood." 

One of those houses belonged to Tonia Mitchell, who said the village had put siding on her home on Ann Drive South. And while the home has been elevated and put back on a new foundation, inside renovation work has not been done, and she said she has no more money to complete it.

"Basically, you had to go through the process of getting a contractor and finding out the cost," Mitchell said. "NY Rising took a long time telling the homeowners what was the next step to move through the process. Because originally you had to find a contractor that they approved, and they were overseeing everything." 

She also said NY Rising wants her to return $245,000 in grant money she has received, money she said she doesn't have as she has weathered rental costs, mortgage costs, a loan default and contractors who took money but never performed or completed the needed work. She's filed a hardship waiver request to release her from repaying the money, but said she has not heard back from the agency.

State Sen. Dean Murray (R-East Patchogue) said the Town of Brookhaven's South Shore has "recovered quite nicely" from the days when "we couldn't even go down streets for weeks. We saw giant fuel tanks floating in the water. It was devastating in that area."

But he was aware of continuing problems of one of his constituents, Dominick Licata, whose Smith Point home underwent an elevation that ultimately damaged it and is now uninhabitable. Licata faces returning $271,851 to NY Rising.

Murray said his chief of staff, Penny Hines, had been working with Licata "for several years."

"She said his house was destroyed. NY Rising sent help," Murray said. "They tried to, but quite a few unscrupulous contractors took his money, didn't do the job properly and left his house uninhabitable. And NY Rising said we tried to help you, [but] we're going to need that money back."

Murray said Licata was "now in a tough spot. It's difficult getting hold of anyone in NY Rising. So they've basically shut down."

Licata is renting an apartment in East Moriches, which he says is his sixth rental since being displaced. "I've faced fraud, mismanagement and abuse," Licata said. He criticized what he called frequently changing rules of NY Rising that worked against him.

"It's a broken program," Licata said.

Suffolk County Legis. Jim Mazzarella (R-Moriches) said there were "plenty more people out there like Dominick Licata." Mazzarella's aide, Tim Rothang, who tried to act as a mediator to help Licata deal with NY Rising, said, "It appears Mr. Licata has been hitting roadblocks at every turn."

Using grant money for the right purpose

NY Rising officials said, in part, in an emailed response to questions about the program: "The State is required by federal law to ensure that grant funds provided to homeowners are used for the purpose it was given — which is rehabilitate their storm damaged homes … because of this requirement, applicants must return funds if they did not perform the work we provided funds for." They add that the financial hardship deadline was extended "multiple times to accommodate as many families as possible" before setting the final deadline of Sept. 30.

NY Rising officials could not immediately respond to questions about Licata's and Mitchell's dealings with the agency without the homeowners' written approval.

Licata, 75, said he requested a hardship waiver and was given until Oct. 18, a few weeks after the Sept. 30 deadline. He said he sent them his income tax papers and bank documents. He said the Smith Point home is in foreclosure, with his mortgage bank saying he is in arrears in excess of $675,000. 

Mitchell, 62, a retired NYPD sergeant who is also on disability, said she submitted her application to NY Rising in 2013, asking for her home to be lifted. She now lives in an RV parked outside her late mother's home on Meister Boulevard, where Sandy-damaged repairs also have not been completed. Her mother's home has a trailer in the yard, where Mitchell said she can cook and shower. She gets power from an electricity box on her mother's property.

Mitchell said rule changes in the NY Rising program and problems with a contractor who ended up "stealing money from homeowners" have stymied her rebuilding efforts. 

Ultimately, her home was lifted in October 2016. She said she no longer has the money to do the interior renovations her house and her mother's house need to make them livable again. 

When asked how she copes with the financial toll the situation has taken on her, Mitchell, standing outside her storm-damaged home, merely pointed her index finder skyward, saying she hoped God would strengthen her.

By Olivia Winslow

olivia.winslow@newsday.com@newsollie