(The Center Square) – Hurricane Ida victims would share in $25 million as part of legislation approved by the New Jersey Senate and the Housing and Mortgage Finance Agency.
Under S-1802, the money would revitalize the Capital Improvement Assistance Program and benefit the HMFA for loans to finance rehabilitation and physical improvements for affordable housing properties needing assistance due to natural disasters, including Hurricane Ida.
“Our most affected communities still have not fully recovered and many people are not back in their homes,” Senate President Nick Scutari, D-Union/Somerset/Middlesex, said in a statement. “They need resources for housing and home repair grants as well as other programs that will cover property loss. Living without a residence of their own for this long is a real hardship.”
The storm made landfall in Louisiana and later was downgraded before combining with a front to unleash tropical storm winds and rain on the Garden State. Ida, on the first two days of September 2021, left 30 people dead in New Jersey and caused millions in damage after tornados turned deadly and tens of thousands of people lost power.
“Hundreds were left homeless and thousands suffered significant damage to their homes,” state Sen. Joe Cryan, D-Union, said in a statement. “Many of the storm’s victims are still without shelter. This funding is needed as temporary solutions are running out.”
The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) issued a major disaster declaration for several counties. However, at the time, several New Jersey lawmakers wanted the feds to extend the major disaster declaration to additional parts of the state.
Additionally, a Republican lawmaker proposed giving New Jerseyans who lost a vehicle due to Tropical Storm Ida a break on their taxes.
This article was published by The Center Square and is republished here with permission. Click here to view the original.
