City completes repairs on 20,000 homes wrecked by Sandy
The city has completed repairs on more than 20,000 homes damaged by Hurricane Sandy, officials announced today.
Mayor Michael Bloomberg said the Rapid Repairs program finished repairing nearly 100 percent of homes, six months after the storm.
At times, he said, 2,300 workers were fixing more than 200 homes per day.
The homes fixed reflect 20,000 families and about 54,000 people, Bloomberg said.
NYC Rapid Repairs provides free repairs to homeowners who sign up for the program, through city-funded contractors and construction workers.
Louisiana Sen. Mary Landrieu lauded the program, saying that her state learned “the hard way” how “ineffective trailers are as a one-size-fits-all solution.”
Bloomberg also elaborated about how the city will use $1.77 billion in federal aid that began trickling into the city last month. He said $10 billion will be donated to one- and two-family homes in need of moderate repairs.
“We still have a lot of work ahead of us to help the families and businesses impacted by Sandy to make a full recovery,” Bloomberg said.
Since Sandy, thousands of people have been unable to return to their homes, with some living in hotels where they say conditions are awful.
And some homes might not be salvageable. Gov. Andrew Cuomo has offered to buy waterfront land from homeowners at pre-Sandy prices, to make sure no one builds homes on the land again.
