On March 29, the New Jersey Department of Community Affairs (NJDCA) submitted its Disaster Recovery Action Plan, which details how the state plans to use $1.83 billion, the first installment of federal funding to begin Super Storm Sandy-related rebuilding efforts. Advocates are dismayed that the plan does not include suggestions they made during the public comment period. They are urging HUD to instruct NJDCA to amend its plan to include provisions for sustainable and fair rebuilding.The Housing and Community Development Network of New Jersey, an NLIHC state coalition partner, recently joined with New Jersey Future and the Fair Share Housing Center in warning HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan that the plan provides more assistance to homeowners than renters, by a four to one margin, when Sandy impacted the two almost equally. In a letter sent April 4, they also indicated that the plan would promote rebuilding communities without real consideration for rising sea levels and changing weather conditions. More than 80 civil rights, community development, housing, labor, religious, special needs and smart growth organizations signed the letter to Secretary Donovan, who chairs the Hurricane Sandy Rebuilding Tax Force.Commenting on the draft plan, advocates asserted that it severely underestimated the disaster’s impact on renters, particularly lower income, African-American and Latino residents, and used an incorrect estimate to justify disproportionately allocating a greater percentage of funds to homeowners. The state’s analysis of affected families only considered the aggregate number of damage reports from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA); it did not account for the fact that many owners are fully covered by insurance and it did not differentiate needs by income level or geography. The draft plan proposed programs to assist 26,000 homeowners, but only 5,000 renters. According to Enterprise Community Partners, an NLIHC member, 43% of New Jersey households registered for post-Sandy FEMA assistance were renters, while 80% of the households impacted the most and considered most vulnerable (those earning $30,000 or less annually) were renters and likely African-American or Latino. Advocates called for a greater percentage of funds to go to rental housing with long-term affordability on new construction projects. HUD requires grantees to pay attention to neighborhoods with the greatest damage to homes and provide demographic analysis to identify special needs populations; advocates called on NJDCA to provide this analysis in its final plan. In their comments, advocates thanked state officials for introducing the Sandy Special Needs Housing Fund (SSNHF). This program will fund supportive housing for those with special needs, including those experiencing homelessness, and place emphasis on rental housing for this population. Advocates requested that the fund be implemented using the guidelines for the state Special Needs Housing Trust Fund, which leveraged resources and created 1,501 permanent supportive housing units; it was eliminated in 2011 due to lack of revenue. Advocates further advised NJDCA to use recovery funds to build a pipeline of supportive housing projects, with the majority of state Supportive Services Program funds directed toward SSNHF-developed units. They underscored that the funds should be used to supplement, not replace, those already committed to resolve Olmstead litigation. The Network is working with the state’s Congressional delegation to urge HUD to instruct NJDCDA to revise its plan to incorporate these suggestions. It also plans significant media work focusing on the plan’s limited ability to address the needs of all those affected. “The NJDCA Action Plan undercounts renters impacted by Sandy; as a result, many people will not have an opportunity to move back to their communities,” said Staci Berger, the Network’s executive director. “Relying solely on FEMA inspections, which counted damage for renters in a much less comprehensive way than for owners, skews the plan. Many of us raised the imbalance in the draft plan, but it was not addressed. We need Secretary Donovan and our federal leaders to ensure an equal shot for everyone to rebuild.”Click here to view advocates’ comments to NJDCA’s draft action plan.Click here to view NJDCA’s plan.Click here to view the Network’s letter to Secretary Donovan.For more information, contact Arnold Cohen at [email protected].