Affordable Housing Stock Hurt by Sandy and FEMA Limitations

While FEMA’s recovery programs focus on single-family houses, nearly 70% of families affected by Hurricane Sandy’s flood waters lived in properties with more than four units, according to Sandy’s Effects on Housing in New York City, a March 2013 brief by New York University’s Furman Center for Real Estate & Urban Policy and Moelis Institute for Affordable Housing Policy. This brief uses data collected by the Furman Center to summarize characteristics of properties in Hurricane Sandy’s surge areas and of the families that registered to receive FEMA assistance.     The authors found that the affordable housing stock was particularly harmed by Hurricane Sandy, partly because subsidized developments are concentrated in the surge-affected areas, including Coney Island, the Rockaways, Harlem, and the Lower East Side. The flood waters damaged 402 buildings, with more than 35,000 units, owned by the New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA), which is almost 20% of NYCHA’s public housing stock. Damage was also done to 248 buildings containing about 24,500 units that are privately owned and receive subsidies through Mitchell-Lama or the Low Income Housing Tax Credit programs, and 800 unsubsidized buildings that contain more than 40,000 rent-stabilized units. (Mitchell-Lama refers to the New York City-sponsored program that provides affordable housing to low and moderate income families.) According to FEMA registrations, the median family income of owners seeking FEMA assistance is $82,000, while the median family income of renters seeking assistance is just $18,000 per year. Further, 65% of renters seeking FEMA assistance, and 30% of owners, have incomes less than $30,000 per year. Finally, a large share of households in the surge area are seniors who are particularly vulnerable in an emergency situation. The affordable housing stock in New York City was already limited before Hurricane Sandy, with just 22% of all rental units affordable to those making less than $30,000 a year, so it will be difficult for households with very low incomes to find replacement homes if they are not able to remain in their current homes. The authors note that FEMA’s recovery programs are designed to help those living in single-family homes, but that seven in ten of the households affected by Hurricane Sandy live in larger properties and will need a different type of assistance. Access the full fact brief at: http://bit.ly/XWf9ie