Christie Administration Announces Housing Recovery Information Session in Bergen County to Assist Homeowners Hard Hit by Superstorm Sandy

Information Session to be held in Moonachie Mobile Home Park on May 11th to Answer RREM and LMI Program Applicants’ Questions about Rebuilding Their Homes

Trenton, NJ – (RealEstateRama) — In its continued effort to meet and assist Sandy-impacted families right in their home communities, the Christie Administration today announced that the 34th Information Session will be held Wednesday, May 11th, 2016, at Metropolitan Mobile Home Park in Moonachie, to provide personal assistance for storm-affected homeowners participating in the Reconstruction, Rehabilitation, Elevation and Mitigation (RREM) Program and LMI Homeowners Rebuilding Program.

The Information Session will be held from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. to provide individualized, hands-on assistance. While the Information Session is open to all eligible RREM Program and LMI Program participants to assist with any housing recovery questions or issues they might have, it is specifically geared toward owners of manufactured housing units (MHUs). A portion of LMI Program grant funding is set aside for MHU homeowners. The Information Session will be held in the Metropolitan Mobile Home Park Meeting Room located at 103 Moonachie Avenue in Moonachie, NJ.

More than 2,000 applicants have attended the previous Information Sessions held since October 2014 in communities hard hit by Superstorm Sandy. Information Sessions are designed to provide one-on-one attention to address homeowners’ questions that arise during all stages in their RREM or LMI Program process. Information Sessions have been held in each of the nine counties the federal government determined were most impacted by Superstorm Sandy (Atlantic, Bergen, Cape May, Essex, Hudson, Middlesex, Monmouth, Ocean, and Union).

“We recognize that owners of manufactured housing units may have unique rebuilding challenges, which is why we are bringing knowledgeable staff directly to their community to field their questions,” said DCA Commissioner Charles A. Richman, whose Department administers many of the State’s Sandy housing recovery initiatives. “We encourage MHU homeowners in either housing recovery program to attend and take full advantage of all the Information Session has to offer.”

Representatives from the DCA’s Sandy Recovery Division and Housing Recovery Centers, as well as RREM Program Managers, will be present to answer specific questions about the RREM Program and LMI Program.

Housing Counselors from the Sandy Recovery Housing Counseling Program will also be in attendance to offer RREM Program and LMI Program participants free HUD-certified housing counseling services for a wide array of housing-related issues, including foreclosure prevention, homelessness prevention, mortgages, budgeting and rental guidance.

Furthermore, information will be available about the Rental Assistance Program (RAP), which was launched last year to help homeowners in the RREM Program and LMI Program pay for temporary housing while their primary homes are being repaired, rebuilt or elevated. Through the RAP initiative, homeowners who have signed their grant agreement and meet other eligibility criteria are eligible for up to $1,300 per month for up to a total of 21 months of rental assistance.

The RREM Program is the largest of the housing recovery programs launched by the State following Superstorm Sandy. The program provides grants to Sandy-impacted homeowners to cover rebuilding costs up to $150,000 that are not funded by insurance, FEMA assistance, U.S. Small Business Administration loans, or other sources.

The LMI Homeowners Rebuilding Program provides reconstruction, rehabilitation and elevation assistance to Sandy-impacted homeowners of limited financial means whose storm-damaged primary residence is located in one of the nine most impacted counties as determined by the federal government. The program aims to provide assistance to those LMI homeowners who did not apply to the RREM Program.

For more information on the Information Session, applicants may contact the DCA’s Sandy Constituent Services Office by calling 609-292-3750 or by emailing sandy.recovery (at) dca.nj (dot) gov.
For more information on the Sandy Recovery Housing Counseling Program and the Rental Assistance Program, people can visit www.renewjerseystronger.org/homeowners/sandy-recovery-housing-counseling-program/ and www.nj.gov/dca/hmfa/homeownership/owners/ssbg/index.shtml.