More than a year after Sandy, only five of more than 4,000 Long Island homeowners have received money from a state program designed to help the storm-devastated homeowners, NBC 4 New York's I-Team has learned.
New York Rising, the state's federally funded housing recovery program, was announced in the spring of 2013. So far, only five homeowners have gotten paid for repairs and 60 homeowners have received home buyouts.
"This is the second holiday season we don't have a home," said Debbie Gialanze of Long Beach. "This is not Sandy's fault, this is FEMA, our government and insurance company's fault. They're keeping us from coming home."
The Gialanzes have not been able to start rebuilding their Long Beach home because they have only received about a third of the $250,000 insurance policy they have paid for over 26 years.
The family was told that the structural damage to their home occurred before Sandy and therefore would not be fully covered. It's a little known provision in their policies called the earth movement exclusion clause.
Michele Mittleman of Freeport had to demolish her home because it was so badly damaged. She has not started rebuilding, either; she has received only half the value of her flood insurance policy.
Both Mittleman and Gialanze hoped that New York Rising would help them where their flood insurance failed. In September, Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced that New York Rising would "fully compensate homeowners" or "repair costs of damage due to ‘earth movement'" and to "bridge this unfair gap in insurance coverage."
"We were ecstatic when Gov. Cuomo when he said he wanted to full compensate earth movement exclusion clause victims," said Mittleman.
But neither Gialanze nor Mittleman have received a check. Instead, they have only received award letters that, in their minds, only covered a portion of the cost of rebuilding and does not fully compensate them for the insurance policies that they paid into year after year.
New York Rising officials say the federal government requires them to deduct outside payments from flood, home insurance and even grants from charity in order to determine a fair amount that the federal government will pay. Director Seth Diamond believes that the money provided will give people a chance to rebuild.
"We think we are giving them enough money combined with their other resources so they can have a home," said Diamond.
"We also have to remember the federal government won't pay for everything. They have very strict caps on what they will grant, so we do have to live under those rules."
Diamond acknowledged the program "needed to get more payments out" but said there was an extensive process in distributing the money, citing the federal government's strict requirements and inspection system in place to prevent fraud.
However, Diamond said New York Rising "will be making many more payments in the coming weeks."