Sandy Recovery- Christie Administration Announces RREM Information Session in Ocean County to Assist Homeowners Hard Hit by Superstorm Sandy
Christie Administration Announces RREM Information Session in Ocean County to Assist
Homeowners Hard Hit by Superstorm Sandy
Information Session Rescheduled Due to Weather Will Be Held in Seaside Park on March 9 to
Answer RREM Applicants’ Questions about Rebuilding Their Homes
Trenton, NJ – March 3, 2015 – (RealEstateRama) — Continuing its ongoing efforts to assist Sandy-impacted families in rebuilding their storm-damaged homes, the Christie Administration today announced that the 11th information session rescheduled because of inclement weather will be held Monday, March 9th, in Seaside Park, Ocean County, to provide personal assistance for storm-affected homeowners participating in the Reconstruction, Rehabilitation, Elevation and Mitigation (RREM) Program.
The information session will be held from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. at the Tri Boro First Aid Squad, 61 J Street, Seaside Park, to provide individualized, hands-on help to enable eligible RREM participants to navigate the program’s process.
The RREM information session is open to eligible RREM participants from any of the nine counties the federal government determined were most impacted by Superstorm Sandy. Nearly 800 RREM applicants have attended the information sessions held from October through January in other communities hard hit by Superstorm Sandy.
“The information sessions have been very well-received because they are designed to provide individualized answers to homeowners’ questions that arise during all stages in their RREM process,” said Richard E. Constable, III, Commissioner of the Department of Community Affairs (DCA), which is administering many of the Sandy Recovery initiatives for the State, including the RREM Program.
Housing Counselors will also be present to offer free HUD-certified housing counseling services for a wide-array of housing-related issues, including foreclosure prevention, homelessness prevention, rental counseling, and advice on reverse mortgages and home equity conversion.
“As a further enhancement to the State’s recovery services, we have launched the Sandy Recovery Housing Counseling Program in each of the nine most impacted counties to provide additional housing assistance to homeowners and renters who were impacted by Superstorm Sandy,” Commissioner Constable said.
RREM applicants recently approved for funding who are unsure of the implications of their newly funded status and are just selecting a contractor to start rehabilitation are encouraged to attend the information session to receive answers to their general questions.
A major focus of the information sessions is to encourage RREM Program participants who have not signed and returned their Right of Entry forms to complete and submit them to the DCA. RREM applicants must complete and return the Right of Entry form to allow the State to conduct a federally mandated environmental and historical review of their home to ensure there are no negative impacts to the environment and any historical or archaeological artifacts. At the information sessions, program participants are also encouraged to return their completed Duplication of Benefits questionnaire, which is needed to calculate their grant awards.
Eligible RREM applicants can also use the information session to check the status of their application, address challenges they may be facing in their individual rebuilding process, determine new action items, and educate themselves about best practices and key information as they move through the program. Also, homeowners nearing completion on the rebuilding of their storm-damaged home can receive answers to any outstanding questions.
The RREM Program is the largest of the housing recovery programs launched by the State in the wake of 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.
Representatives from the DCA’s Sandy Recovery Division, Housing Recovery Centers, and RREM Program Managers will be present to answer specific questions about the RREM Program. Additionally, representatives of the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection and New Jersey Division of Consumer Affairs will be available to discuss respectively the federally mandated environmental and historical review and best practices in selecting a reliable contractor to undertake home rebuilding work.
For more information on the RREM Information Session, RREM 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, visit http://www.renewjerseystronger.org/homeowners/sandy-recovery-housing-counseling-program/ or http://www.renewjerseystronger.org/.
