10/22/13 $57 million Sandy Housing and Rental Assistance Program, "The Working Families Living Expenses Voucher Program

Sandy Living Expenses Voucher Program Delivers Relief To

New Jersey’s Working Families

Christie Administration Announces Assistance Program For Homeowners And Renters


The Christie Administration today announced a new $57 million Sandy Housing and Rental Assistance Program, "The Working Families Living Expenses Voucher Program." The program will provide housing stability for individuals and families impacted by Superstorm Sandy and ensure that affected households have items essential for health and safety when they return to their home.

This voucher program provides temporary relief by offering support to working families who are financially strained due to the costs associated with recovery from Superstorm Sandy.

 Maintaining temporary housing while their primary residence is repaired/rebuilt;

 Maintaining a primary residence for the household to return to when repairs and reconstruction are completed; and

 Homeowners and renters who are under or unemployed due to the storm and in need of additional help to stabilize their finances may also benefit.

Funding for this program is being distributed to all of New Jersey’s 21 counties for qualifying Sandy-impacted families and individuals through a federal Social Services Block Grant (SSBG) to the state Department of Human Services (DHS).

Funds will be distributed through the county Boards of Social Services or other agencies in the form of direct payments to billing agencies or vouchers to select vendors for eligible residents. Capped at $15,000 in direct payments or vouchers per household, the program provides up to six months of housing and related assistance.

Allowable expenses include:

 Retroactive and Current rent/mortgage payments

 Retroactive and Current utility payments

 Beds and Cribs

 Bed Linens and Towels

 Dressers

 Dining furniture

 Washing machines and dryers

 Refrigerators

 Couches

 Dinnerware

 Lighting

 Stoves

 Microwaves

 Air Conditioners

 Pots and Pans

 Hot Water heaters

In order to prevent fraud and maintain the integrity of the program, residents may be asked to bring any of the following items for review:

 FEMA/DCA Registration

 Mortgage statement/lease agreement

 State issued driver’s license

 Utility bills

 Bank Account statement

　
 Income Tax Return

 Birth certificate/Voter ID/Legal Permanent Resident Card

 Guardianship papers, if applicable

People interested in applying for the program can visit www.NJ211.org or call 211 to find out where to apply.

Link 

The Jersey Shore on This Old House

"This Old House" 

 Covering the recovery at the Jersey Shore. Mantoloking, Bay Head, Point Pleasant and Manasquan, Seaside Heights and more... 

Episode 1 October 3, 2013    
After The Storm

Episode 2 October 10, 2013   
 Drastic Measures

Episode 3 October 17, 2013    
Getting To Work 

Episode 4 October 24, 2013   
Built For Speed 

Episode 5  October 31, 2013 
Lines in The Sand This Old House

Where does your flood insurance money go?

 

What you should know about where your flood insurance money goes.....

 

Thanks to a link on the Stop FEMA now facebook page I read the testimony of;

 

Mark Davey

CEO of Fidelity National Property and Casualty Insurance Group.

The largest provider of flood insurance through the NFIP

 

Mark Appeared BEFORE THE SENATE BANKING, HOUSING AND URBAN AFFAIRS COMMITTEE

CONCERNING THE NATIONAL FLOOD INSURANCE PROGRAM. Below you will find a link to the complete testimony but I wanted to point out a few things that only the first page revealed.

 

 

 

The actual risk is 100% underwritten by the Federal Government through the National Flood

Insurance Program.

 

Insurance companies are responsible for all marketing, policy quotation, sale, issuance and servicing, in addition to all claims handling and claims payment.

 

Currently ALL participating companies receive an expense reimbursement of 30.2 percent for the policy issuance, servicing and marketing. NFIP  companies also receive a 3.3% claims administration fee when claims are adjusted and paid. The 30.2% processing fee is used to pay independent agency commissions, processing costs, marketing costs, and state premium taxes.

 

When I read the next paragraph, I thought to myself. what a bunch of " hoo wee" the banking industry has come up with software that scans and registers banking deposits. There is online management software that has a filing system so that any file can easily be uploaded to a database and maintained.  And you can not tell me that with NFIP guidelines in writing and the technological advances in GPS software, that an algorithm can't be put together to streamline the servicing process even further. For god sake they can zoom into peoples windows with new GPS software...

 

 

Here is the paragraph

 

While the insurance industry has reduced their underwriting costs for traditional lines through automation and

better processing techniques, flood insurance has become more cumbersome to rate and process. Marketing,

administering and interfacing with the NFIP is a truly specialized field. The rating process requires actual location information such as flood zone, determining elevation, reviewing pictures, and numerous forms to determine the correct rate for the property. This process does not lend itself to high automation....

 

People of this great nation need to pay attention to what is happening at the Federal Level before it's to late. The founding fathers of this country gave us the Constitution for a reason, To Protect ourselves from government.. If you don't protect yourself who will?

 

 

 

NEED FOR EMERGENCY FUND! SANDY UPDATE - TOMS RIVER B.A.& SENATOR SINGER

Flood Vents Must Be Certified.......

If you do not have certified flood vents your rates are subject to rise.

FEMA released a guide for identifying the lowest floor for rating buildings being considered for coverage under the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP). The NFIP created specific requirements regarding the installation of openings or vents for allowing water to flow through the enclosed space beneath an elevated building during a flood. These requirements are codified in Title 44 of the Code of Federal Regulations (44 CFR).

The presence of adequate openings or vents in the enclosure beneath an elevated structure is an important factor in rating an NFIP policy and can, therefore, have a significant impact on the cost of flood insurance coverage for the building.

There are 3 ways to have your flood vents certified.

Certification by an Engineer or Architect
Flood openings must be designed to automatically equalize hydrostatic flood forces on exterior walls by allowing for the entry and exit of flood waters. This certification is required by community officials.

Documentation by a Community Building Official
The community building official can submit a letter or other written evidence explaining the flood openings have been accepted by the community as an alternative to the openings requirement in the International Building Code or the local ordinance based on the issuance of an Evaluation Report on openings by the International Code Council Evalution Service (ICC-ES), Inc. ICC-ES Evaluation Report

The third acceptable alternative to the 1 inch for every square foot opening requirement is an Evaluation Report issued by the ICC-ES which states the automatic flood vents meet the code requirement. This report provides the specification on the number of flood vents required for a defined square footage of enclosed area below the BFE.

Here is a guide to flood vents.

USDA Funding Areas - New Maps a Disgrace for New Jersey Homebuyers

When I saw these maps, all I could think of was Ocean & Monmouth County and what they mean for our area and its continued recovery after super storm sandy. I see so many vacant homes, not only from the storm but from the shadow inventory out there that have not been foreclosed on and then think of Fannie Mae who holds out for higher sale prices " Killing deal after deal" while homes sit and rot away.

The New USDA maps indicate that Ocean and Monmouth County are basically no longer qualified. Only parts of Waretown, Plumsted and Upper Freehold Township still have eligible areas.

I believe some people are not watching what's happening around them. Two county's and for that matter a large part of the state no longer qualifies for the USDA federally funded mortgage program. 

"Look for yourself"  On the map below the yellow areas on the left will no longer qualify for funding. And look at New Jersey qualified areas overall.

Is New Jersey being penalized for something? Why? What is going on? 

Something is not quite right here.

This is just one more issue that our representatives need to speak up about.

Your freeholders need to hear from you, Your senators and congressmen need to hear from you......

Interesting Facts:
United States Census (2000 census) defines rural areas as comprising open
country and settlements with fewer than 2,500 residents (population/administrative-based); areas designated as rural can have population densities as high as 999 per square mile or as low as 1 person
per square mile (population/land use-based).

United States Department of Agriculture (2002 farm bill) defines rural
areas as any area other than (1) a city or town that has a population of
greater than 50,000 inhabitants, and (2) the urbanized areas contiguous
and adjacent to such a city or town.

United States Office of Management and Budget defines a Metropolitan
Statistical Area as consisting of (1) central counties with one or more
urbanized areas (as defined by the Census Bureau) and (2) outlying
counties that are economically tied to the core counties as measured by
worker commuting data (i.e. if 25% of workers living there commute to the
core counties, or if 25% of the employment in the county consists of workers coming from the central counties). Non-metro counties (rural counties) are outside the boundaries of metro areas.

The beautiful Jersey Shore.. We are on our way to recovery..