Superstorm Sandy’s Psychological Scars Run Deep by Chris Lundy
The Seaside boardwalk is back. The bridges, too. But you don’t have to look too hard to find remnants of Superstorm Sandy’s devastation along the Jersey Shore. A line of waterfront homes is marred by a deserted house. A vacant property with the footprint still visible. A house being rebuilt on the water. These are the physical scars that Sandy had been there. The emotional scars are usually harder to see. Many people are still struggling with the psychological effects of Sandy. The time it takes to get back in one’s home is longer than the length of some of the programs to help people. Tricia McAvoy has not been able to move back in to her house in Brick yet. Instead, she’s staying with her 100-year-old father in Point Pleasant Beach. “I cannot physically go into that house alone without shaking,” she said. It hasn’t been fully restored. There have been a host of construction issues, contractor issues, RREM issues, and more. From the outside, it looks like it’s complete, although looking beneath the surface you would be able to see the problems that continue to keep her from coming home. There’s always something else to go wrong. “You’re waiting for the next shoe to drop. You don’t want to open any letters. I’m afraid, sometimes, to answer the phone,” she said. Tricia McAvoy is still trying to get back into her home in Brick. (Photo courtesy Priscilla Robinson with NJOP)There are physical after-effects as well. She said she developed chronic bronchitis and has had two strokes since the storm. She used to be healthy, but now she’s on 11 pills a day. “A lot of the stress is having to deal with the insurance company,” she said. “The stress will kill you.” After Sandy, she worked in one of the relief centers. She was also photographed holding a sign that read “Hope.” “Whenever there’s heavy rains, I get so nervous I start shaking,” she said. “It’ll never leave you.” She’s not alone. The New Jersey Organizing Project was formed by a group of people who survived Sandy. They recently accumulated surveys from 492 households about what problems they are still facing. A large amount of them were in Ocean and Monmouth counties. More than 70 percent of them reported additional medical or psychological issues, or a worsening of pre-existing conditions since the storm. “Many individuals described anxiety, depression, and post-traumatic stress disorders, often in combination with respiratory, cardiovascular, or other conditions,” according to their report, The Long Road Home. It can be found online at NewJerseyOP.com. “Many people also described an increased dependence on alcohol, tobacco products, or drugs. Of families with children, nearly 40 percent reported that their children’s school performance suffered because of the difficulties their family has faced since the storm.” The full report outlines a score of issues that were left unresolved: people still dealing with contractors or the government, and 57 percent of them saying they think that this could happen again because towns are not prepared. The report suggests solutions such as:
Construction on the shore, like in this Toms River neighborhood, is common to see five years after Sandy. (Photo by Chris Lundy)There was a great outpouring of mental health help immediately after Sandy, said Dr. Adrienne Sessler-Belli, director of the disaster and terrorism branch of the Division of Mental Health and Addiction Services in the Department of Health. There were hundreds of counselors throughout the state deployed at shelters and other places to talk to people, she said. Some counselors were people who also were impacted, trained to help their neighbors and who knew what they were going through. The counselors were a part of a program called New Jersey Hope and Healing. They went to different places in the community where impacted people were likely to be. It ended in February of 2014, giving way to other groups like New Jersey Mental Health Cares. They met people directly, and manned a hotline, having logged more than half a million residents served. “We are aware that, after a disaster, there are different phases,” she said. “With the scope of Sandy, it becomes a more complicated recovery process.” In the long term, some programs close, and the funding does dry up, she said. Anniversaries are a difficult time for people, she said. The hurricane coverage in the news brings up a lot of memories and emotions. There are some people who are overwhelmed with anxiety and other symptoms immediately after a catastrophe, but are eventually able to go back to a sense of normalcy without any great impact on their lives, she said. There are some who are not able to, and who still need to reach out for help. “Everyone responds differently. Never judge one person’s reaction,” she said. New Jersey has a team responding to the Virgin Islands, and they are reporting back a very similar situation of what was seen after Sandy, she said. If you need help dealing with Sandy, reach out to New Jersey Mental Health Cares at 1-866-202-HELP. Hurricane Warnings (Photo courtesy of Toms River Township)McAvoy said that the coverage of hurricanes Harvey and Irma caused her anxiety, as news reports continually poured in about how devastating they were going to be. And then afterward, the images of the destruction hit a little close to home. Indeed, even news reports like the one you’re reading right now might trigger some anxiety about people who lived through the disaster. Jared Klein, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Mount Holly, said his group performed “post-event review” to see how they communicated about Sandy. It led to a policy change a year later in order to more accurately describe storms of that level so that it would not be confusing. “It’s very important for a forecaster to put it into perspective,” he said. If there is something that happened in recent memory, like Sandy, then the forecaster should compare it to that so people know what kind of storm they are dealing with. This helps the public and media understand what kind of storm is coming. One effect that came from Sandy is that people take storm warnings more seriously. There is less “oh, this can’t happen here.”
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KIYC: Some banks unwilling to comply with Sandy assistance
MIDDLETOWN -New Jersey passed a law this year guaranteeing mortgage assistance to some Sandy-impacted homeowners. But a Kane In Your Corner investigation finds banks and mortgage companies are often unwilling to comply, and the law lacks a mechanism to punish them. Five years after Sandy, Angel Eguaras, of Ventnor, doesn’t know when he will be back home. His contractor is accused of fraud and his house has failed inspection nine times. So Eguaras thought he’d finally caught a break when he was state-certified for a mortgage forbearance. Under the law, he qualified for no payments until July 2019, with no additional interest, fees or balloon payments. The loan would simply be frozen and extended. But his bank, Chase, wouldn’t comply. Eguaras says when he called his relationship manager, “She says she doesn't know of any state program, and ‘I don't care about a state program.’” Instead, Chase would only offer Eguaras a six-month forbearance, followed by a balloon payment to bring the account current. “I’d save $1,800 a month, but at the end, I’d have to pay over $10,000?” Eguaras asks incredulously. “Does that makes sense?” He turned the offer down. Kane In Your Corner found Eguaras is not alone. To understand how long Jim and Carol Ferraioli, of Middletown, have had to make payments on a home in which they can’t live, you need only look at Jim’s son, Anthony, who started high school the month before Sandy. He’s now 19. Standing outside the empty shell of his former home, Anthony Ferraioli says, “I still come here certain days. I just drive past it. It's hard to look at each time.” For the past 2 ½ years, the family’s house has literally been up in the air. A contractor began a house-lifting project, then abandoned it, leaving the house suspended on blocks. Over time, the joists have begun to bow and splinter. Jim Ferraioli is also state-certified for forbearance, which he says would “make a world of difference.” He says the savings might even allow him to restore his house. But Ferraioli’s mortgage company, Mr. Cooper, a division of Nationstar, has not committed to granting the forbearance the law requires. Instead, it’s begun foreclosing on the property, something the law specifically forbids. Some who work with Sandy homeowners say uncooperative lenders are a chronic problem. “Since the rollout of this legislation, there hasn't been a week that's passed where we haven't gotten three or more calls from people who are struggling to get their banks to follow the law,” says Amanda Devecka-Rinear, executive director of the New Jersey Organizing Project. Part of the problem may be the wording of the law itself. While it clearly spells out homeowners’ rights and lender responsibilities, it contains no specific penalties for noncompliance. To Jim Ferraioli, “If there’s no penalty, then it means they don’t really have to do it.” There is good news for Angel Eguaras. Since Kane In Your Corner began questioning Chase, the bank has agreed to place him in a forbearance program in accordance with the conditions of state law. Mr. Cooper declined to comment on the Ferraiolis’ situation, but pledged to speak to the family directly. But Devecka-Rinear says homeowners should not have to enlist the help of investigative journalists to get what they legally deserve. “It’s the law,” she says. “And I have to follow the law, and you have to follow the law, so the banks should follow the law.” Crooked contractors: Sandy victims discover no background checks in NJ home improvement by Katie Park
Key findings: ► A loophole in the law allows convicted felons to receive state approval to do home improvement work ► A number of Sandy-affected homeowners who believed the state had done background checks on contractors hired a man who had defrauded others across the nation ► The convicted fraudster ripped off two dozen homeowners and employees for more than $1.8 million. It took the state four years to catch up with him. TOMS RIVER - Jamie Lawson was practically a part of Mark and Diane Wisniewski’s family. He made sympathetic phone calls to the couple when their daughter was hospitalized for pregnancy complications. Soon after, he mourned with the family when the Wisniewskis’ grandson, born prematurely, died five days after birth. He donated to the March of Dimes charity in honor of their grandchild. Nearly five years after Superstorm Sandy hit, Mark and Diane Wisniewski are still in the process of rebuilding their Toms River shown October 29, 2017. They were one of the many victims of fraudulent contractor Jamie Lawson. And on Christmas Day in 2014, Lawson’s son brought over a bottle of wine as a gift — a thank-you to valued customers from Lawson's company, J&N Construction. Lawson, 42, was the Wisniewskis’ contractor, hired to lift and renovate their superstorm Sandy-damaged home on Woodhaven Road in the township. The Wisniewskis thought they had landed an ideal contractor — one who was skilled, trustworthy and compassionate. And so, they paid Lawson, the owner of J&N Construction and Elevation, $115,000 in federal relief funds over several months, starting December 2014 and ending October 2016. Then the red “Stop Work” order appeared — a sheet of crimson paper plastered in the middle of the work site that was in such shambles it more resembled a war zone than a home under construction. As he had done in numerous states over the past 20 years, Lawson moved from one natural disaster to another, fleecing homeowners in desperate need for their residences to be fixed. In New Jersey, in the wake of Sandy, Lawson found his mother lode. Victims said Lawson properly performed a few jobs once he began business in Brick to give customers a glimpse of his work, then began defrauding residents with abandon. All the while, Lawson was actively registered with the state Division of Consumer Affairs as a home improvement contractor. “Honestly, he was very, very caring, and that’s how he got into everybody’s lives – to gain his trust.” In the eyes of homeowners, Lawson's valid registration was the New Jersey seal of approval. But, because of a loophole in the law, the state never checked if Lawson had a criminal history. Had criminal background checks been in place at the time Lawson became registered with the state in late 2012, it's unlikely Lawson ever would have been approved — and also unlikely that more than two dozen vulnerable homeowners would have lost more than $1 million in federal and personal funds at the hands of a scam artist. But even now, five years after Sandy, implementing mandatory background checks on home improvement contractors is not a practice authorized by state law, and officials continue to grapple with accusations of fraud against home improvement contractors. "There’s got to be some kind of background check," Diane Wisniewski said. "It makes no sense to me. And I think a lot of this can be avoided, and could in the future be avoided, if they change that. That’s important." It took four years for the law to catch up with Lawson. Rich Bindell and his wife Allison hired contractor Jamie L. Lawson to repair their superstorm Sandy damaged home. After taking thousands for work performed, Lawson abandoned the project. In December 2016, Lawson was indicted by an Ocean County grand jury on criminal charges related to his contracting business, in which authorities alleged he took hundreds of thousands of dollars from dozens of homeowners in Monmouth and Ocean counties and partially completed jobs, or not at all. At the time the indictment was handed up, a spokesman for the Ocean County Prosecutor's Office said Lawson had also been accused of construction-related offenses in numerous southern states directly related to his contracting business. Shortly after Lawson was charged in the indictment with theft by failure to make required disposition, money laundering and tampering with public records — in connection to the false home improvement contractor application Lawson submitted in November 2012 — he fled the state and became a fugitive. It wasn't his first go-around with the law. James "Jamie" Lawson, a home contractor who is accused of stealing $1.5M from more than a dozen homeowners by agreeing to do work - then bailing, smiles at some of the people he defrauded during his detention hearing in State Superior Court in Toms River Friday, July 7, 2017. Over the last 20 years, Lawson had been charged dozens of times, extradited on arrest warrants and convicted of various crimes three times, according to court records and court officials in several states. He was found guilty of assault with a deadly weapon in North Carolina, violation of a business license in South Carolina and theft of property in Texas. He was charged with theft in numerous states, arson and threats to perform acts of violence in Oklahoma and domestic assault in Tennessee. Dozens of other charges – misdemeanors and felonies – were dismissed, either because Lawson accepted plea deals, paid restitution and court costs, or because authorities lacked sufficient evidence, court officials said. “Over the last 20 years, Jamie Lawson was charged dozens of times and convicted three times.” Six months after Lawson fled New Jersey, he was arrested at an extended-stay motel in Florence, South Carolina, by officers from the U.S. Marshals Service. Lawson’s lawyer, Keith Oliver, declined to comment for this story. This month, Lawson pleaded guilty to theft and money laundering and admitted to stealing $1.86 million from more than two dozen homeowners in Monmouth and Ocean counties. Some of the $1.86 million included money that should have been paid to J&N Construction workers in exchange for labor, said William Scharfenberg, senior assistant prosecutor with the Ocean County Prosecutor's Office. Lawson faces up to 10 years in a state prison. His sentencing date is scheduled for Dec. 1. “They say he was a professional con man,” Diane Wisniewski said, recalling what investigators told her. “I mean, he practically joined our family. Honestly, he was very, very caring, and that’s how he got into everybody’s lives — to gain his trust.” In the five years since superstorm Sandy walloped New Jersey, millions of federal dollars were disbursed to homeowners whose houses desperately needed major repairs. And in the time the money was dispensed, complaints were filed against thousands of home improvement contractors alleging everything from shoddy work to theft. An Asbury Park Press investigation of New Jersey’s home improvement contracting industry found:
In the deluge of home improvement contractors accused or convicted of fraud, Lawson stood out because of the magnitude of his crimes and a history that showed he defrauded homeowners in other states whose homes had been ruined by tornadoes and hurricanes. But state records that show how many contractors lied about criminal convictions remain scant. The Division of Consumer Affairs, which oversees contractor registration, denied a public records request asking for a list of people who were found to have lied on the disclosure statement of the home improvement contracting registration. The agency said the Home Improvement Registration Unit “does not keep a list that compiles the type of information you requested.” Nearly five years after Superstorm Sandy hit, Mark and Diane Wisniewski are still in the process of rebuilding their Toms River shown October 29, 2017. They were one of the many victims of fraudulent contractor Jamie Lawson. 'I can't explain it' In New Jersey, approximately 48,703 home improvement contracting businesses were actively registered with Consumer Affairs as of Oct. 20, according to the Division's registry. In comparison to other regulated professions under the Division of Consumer Affairs, there were 33 actively registered home elevation contracting businesses, about 12,000 actively registered electrical contracting businesses and about 8,500 HVAC contracting businesses. In 2016, state authorities cited 136 home improvement contractors and said the contractors’ violations totaled to about $1.9 million in fines and restitution, although not all the cases were resolved. In the same year, the Consumer Affairs brought six civil cases against contractors who allegedly bilked more than 100 customers who needed construction work done on their homes following Sandy. About 99 victims lost $3.8 million in federal relief funds, according to the Division. The number of citations issued to home improvement contractors was similar for 2015. In a recent survey conducted by the New Jersey Organizing Project, an Ocean County-based organization that advocates for Sandy victims, 22 percent of people reported they were not yet home. The survey received 551 responses in total. “I can't explain why this didn't come up.” “It is very frustrating at times to see very common-sensical measures not being acted upon,” said Assemblyman Brian Rumpf, R-Ocean, who has been a lawmaker since 2003 and represents southern Ocean County. “Not only are these folks victimized by being abandoned from their homes – to add to that, they are then further victimized by being defrauded." All of the half-dozen Democratic and Republican state legislators who spoke with or relayed statements to the Press said they did not know why a law requiring home improvement contractors to submit to criminal history background checks was not in place, although numerous jobs – from office workers to nurses, to teachers to fast food cashiers – require some sort of history check. 'It was like a washing machine'In the summer of 2015, Rich and Allison Bindell believed they did their homework before they chose Lawson as their contractor to fix their Cattus Street home, which was pummeled by superstorm Sandy. Four feet of water had damaged thousands of dollars in property and caused the family to lose everything they had on the first floor of the house located near the Toms River waterfront, Allison Bindell said. “The water didn’t just come up and rise up,” she said. “It was like a washing machine. So everything that was in my family room was in my washroom.” After the Bindells saw Lawson was registered with the state and checked out some of Lawson's previous construction work, the Bindells hired him to elevate their house and repair damage. Paperwork was filed with the township, and in April 2016, the Bindells said they moved out so construction work could start. Lawson got the house in the air, Rich Bindell said. But then, after making some progress on construction, he said Lawson stopped showing up to work on the house. Allison Bindell, of Toms River, describes how superstorm Sandy damaged her family's home in October 2012.Katie Park “I'm out that almost $20,000 - I gotta make that up.” The Bindells said choosing Lawson was a mistake — a mistake that cost them $99,000, and more than a year out of their home. The Bindells, who have two children, said they received approximately $80,000 back from the state. “I’m out that almost $20,000,” Rich Bindell said. “I gotta make that up. So, you know, whatever. That’s coming out of my 401(k), or my savings and everything else. Plus, I got a kid in college. That don’t help. But, you know, makin’ it, slowly.” The Bindells’ home is now being repaired by Legacy Custom Home Builders, a local company that the Bindells hired this summer. In about a month and a half, the Legacy construction team worked efficiently on the home, to the Bindells’ delight. But in about three or four months, after an unexpectedly long and stressful journey through state agencies and the Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office, Rich Bindell said he expects his family will move back into their original home. “God willing,” Allison Bindell added. 'There are enough bad apples'Assemblywoman Amy Handlin, R-Monmouth, thinks New Jersey is an overregulated state. But consumer protection, when it comes to home improvement contracting, is one of the areas she said she wants to strengthen. In an attempt to bolster home improvement construction statutes, Handlin recently drafted a proposal that would require background checks for home improvement and elevation contractors. “The industry doesn’t like this notion of painting them all with the same brush,” Handlin said. “I understand that, and I don’t doubt that most of them are responsible and law-abiding, but there are enough bad apples to sour the whole barrel, from the perspective of consumer advocates." Handlin’s proposal, which likely will not be formally introduced until after the November general election, would require home improvement or home elevation contracting applicants to be fingerprinted. She said the fingerprints would be run through FBI or New Jersey State Police records to check for conviction records. The applicant would pay the cost of the background check, which would likely be more than $50 but less than $100, Handlin said. As the proposal currently stands, the background check would apply to the owners of the company, said Leigh Maris, Handlin’s chief of staff. “The industry doesn't like this notion of painting them all with the same brush.” Like other legislators, state Sen. Jennifer Beck, R-Monmouth, said she also wants to protect consumers. But Beck said she doesn’t favor background checks. Ideally, under bills she proposed, Beck said contractors would have to disclose all major corporate owners to the state and establish a $25,000 surety bond to cover any damage or problems that affects the homeowner. "People assume that because you’re registered that means something," Beck said. "It really doesn’t. It really means very little. It’s very easy to register." As Beck grapples with steering her bills through the legislative process, she said she wonders if the bills contribute to smart reform or excessive bureaucratic hurdles. “There is a balance,” Beck said. “But, in this case, the Division of Consumer Affairs can tell you that for clear-cut cases of fraud, that they are oftentimes finding their hands are tied because the statute isn’t strong enough. Then that’s on us to try to figure how to tighten it up.” Survey details Sandy's continued misery by Mark Di Ionno
You can believe a detailed academic survey of about 500 households, or you can believe your own eyes. Either way, a nonprofit organization's report card released today on the Hurricane Sandy recovery as the five year anniversary nears says the "storm after the storm" is still very real to many people. "The storm after the storm" or the "disaster after the disaster" is how many Sandy victims describe their road to recovery. And while the word "road" implies straight and smooth, it is more accurate to say the "obstacle course to recovery." Think of one of those Tough Mudder races - that's what rehabbing after Sandy has been like for many victims. Bogged down in the deep muck of government paperwork. Climbing the high walls of insurance company obstinance and, in some cases, outright fraud. Walking the balance beams of finding a reliable contractor. In the hard hit areas of the Barneget and Raritan bays, it is very clear the recovery is far from over. Houses remain boarded or vacant and lots are empty. "For Sale" signs dot the landscape. Construction continues and for every few homes that look rebuilt and inhabited, there is another on the block that continues to languish. As of Sept. 30, the state Department of Community Affairs, which has handled the Sandy recovery, reports that 2,000 of the 7,572 homeowners in the Reconstruction, Rehabilitation, Elevation, and Mitigation (RREM) program still await a certificate of occupancy (CO) for their homes. Of 386 people in low- and middle-income rebuilding programs, 208 remain without a CO. No CO means you can't go home. The number of primary homeowners still out of their homes is elusive. The state keeps track only of the people who entered the RREM program, which awarded grants to elevate homes to levels that meet new FEMA flood insurance requirements. No one is even counting those whose damaged property was a second residence because they are not eligible for any government grants or loans. Amanda Devecka-Rinear, an experienced activist who lives several steps from the Barnegat Bay on Cedar Bonnet Island, started the New Jersey Organizing Project (NJOP) in 2014 to advocate for Sandy victims stuck in the morass of the recovery. "It's impossible to tell how many people are still out," she said. "There were estimates that 50,000 homeowners and renters were forced from their primary homes after the storm. At one point, the state said there were 12,000 people in RREM. Where did they all go?" Earlier this year, her organization attempted to find out. Volunteers spread out in the most impacted areas with detailed questionnaires about Sandy victims' recovery experiences. Surveys were done in Toms River, Union Beach, Beach Haven West, Ortley Beach, Atlantic City, and four other devastated areas. In many cases, volunteers interviewed people directly. Overall, several thousand people had access to the survey. NJOP received 551 responses, not a huge sampling, but enough to draw some attention to the success of the recovery house-to-house. The 56-page report, issued by the New Jersey Resource Project, is titled "The Long Road Home: Superstorm Sandy Still Taking a Toll Five Years Later." Among the findings are:
Jessica Limbacher, from Volunteer Lawyers for Justice, is one of the authors of the survey and has represented several hundred Sandy victims. "One of the most important things we have learned - and which this survey confirms - is that people need ongoing assistance, even now five years later," she said. The point of the survey, Devecka-Rinear said, it not just to quantify misery. It's to help the federal, state and local governments prepare for the next time - and even help navigate the recoveries of hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Maria. "Our communities learned these lessons the hard way," she said. "We have solutions to help New Jersey families and make sure no one in any state has to go through what we have. Shame on us if we don't listen." 5 years after Sandy, Jersey victims see the future for those hit by Harvey and Irma by Mark Di Ionno
After Hurricane Harvey battered Houston, Doug Quinn took the bed out of the back of the 1999 Dodge van he calls "Mona" and loaded it up with water, food and sanitary supplies to head southwest. "I just wanted to turn my wheel toward Texas," he said. He drove to North Carolina, picked up a friend and 18 hours later, they turned into a poor neighborhood in Northeast Houston. The scene brought Quinn back to the dawn of Hurricane Sandy's destruction along the New Jersey waterfront, specifically his neighborhood in the Silverton section of Toms River. "It was grim, people walking around like zombies," he said of Texas. He saw streets lined with water-ruined furniture and household possessions piled up on sidewalks. Photo albums, children's toys, all of it, representing a lifetime of work and memories, wiped out in hours. He also saw resilience and hope. And that broke his heart as much as the destruction. "I wanted to tell them what was coming, but I just couldn't," he said. "I wanted to tell them the hurricane is the easy part. That their lives were going to miserable, pure hell for the next five years. That 'recovery' is like slow and grinding ... it's like watching a car crash in slow motion, over and over again." All that remains of his home on the Barnegat Bay are lawn chairs piled up in neat stacks and blue tarps covering other household furnishings exposed to the elements for years. "It's all toast now, I'm sure," said the 53-year-old former Marine. "I had a storage unit in my yard but the town made me get rid of it." As next month's fifth anniversary of Sandy approaches, Quinn remains one of the people still out of their primary home. Sometimes he sleeps in his van because, he says, staying in his apartment is depressing. It's not home. "It's impossible to tell how many people are still out," said Amanda Devecka-Rinear, head of the New Jersey Organizing Project, which was formed to advocate for Sandy victims. "We estimated there were 50,000 homeowners and renters forced from their primary homes," she said. "But the state only keeps track of the people in the RREM (Reconstruction, Rehabilitation, Elevation, and Mitigation) program." The state's figures, as of the end of August, say that 2,190 homeowners of the 7,595 in the RREM program remain without certificates of occupancy for their homes. Of the 315 families that applied for LMI (low- and moderate-income grants), 95 are without certificates of occupancy. To put these figures into perspective, of the 50,000 families whose homes were substantially damaged in the storm, only 16 percent applied for state RREM and LMI grants. "What happened to the rest? That's a good question," Devecka-Rinear said. "And nobody has the answer." Her group did a door-to-door survey of people's Sandy experiences in the hard-hit areas. Of the 492 people who responded, she said, 19 percent remain out of their homes or have decided not to return home. While it's a small sample, the number doesn't seem far-fetched. In Jon Thompson's neighborhood, where the Toms River meets Barnegat Bay, unfinished houses and vacant lots with "for sale" signs easily make up 20 percent of the properties. Thompson's house is one of them. He was in the RREM program and gave his contractor the second installment of the state's $75,000 grant. The contractor used that money to finish other houses, then told Thompson he was broke. "He just sat me down and informed me the money was gone," said Thompson, sitting in the garage area of his unfinished home, surrounded by large planks of sheetrock he is now putting up himself. Thompson, like many people, did repairs to his uninsured bungalow after the storm. He put in a new water and heating system and made the house livable, only to be told by the state it was "substantially damaged," a designation that mandated homeowners to raise their houses in order to get flood insurance. Since the storm, Thompson has moved eight times and is on his fifth different RREM representative. "I've sent in the paperwork a thousand times," he said. "Stuff gets lost, or they need more." "I'm 68; this isn't how I want to spend my retirement," he said. "Mentally and physically I can't take it anymore. There are days when I don't want to get out of bed." Next to Thompson's property are two vacant lots, then a house, then a third lot for sale. Down the street a contractor left a modular home unprotected and mold set in. Only the elevating pilings remain where the house was supposed to sit. "When you drive along these streets," Quinn said, "you see a lot of new houses and things look put back together. But then you look close ..." In Quinn's neighborhood, a house across street from his lot is raised but there are no stairs leading in and the garage door is nailed shut with plywood. Two doors down, a ranch home remains vacant, the work permits yellowed by age. Quinn is still trying to find a contractor. He spent the first three years after Sandy fighting his insurance company, which paid him $90,000 on his $250,000 policy for his destroyed home, which was swamped with five-feet of bay water. "I bought it for $300,000 a year-and-a-half before the storm," he said. "The insurance company came in and told me the cracks and holes in the foundation existed before the storm. Luckily I had all my home inspection reports from when I bought it. Still, it cost me $43,000 in legal fees to get them to give me the full amount." These are the kinds of stories Quinn wanted to tell the people in Houston - but he didn't have the heart. "You know, at that point, people are on the edge," he said. "I didn't want to tell them what was coming. It might have pushed them over." FISK: Harvey, Irma underscore need for flood insurance reforms by Ray Fisk
Katrina. Sandy. Harvey. And now Irma. In a dozen years we’ve seen hurricane devastation in this country that, with each new storm, is harder to comprehend. The damage to property and infrastructure is staggering. The human suffering breaks our hearts. After Katrina, more than a third of New Orleans residents left the city and never came back. Many of those former New Orleaneans moved to Houston to start a new life and have now experienced biblical flooding a second time. Here in New Jersey, Sandy evacuees returned to find homes without walls, treasured belongings buried in sand and salt water — or to find no home at all. As in New Orleans, some Sandy victims also abandoned or sold their properties for a song. Nearly five years later, families are still trying to recover or simply come home. We share the pain of Texas and Florida because we know what their residents are experiencing. And what they will endure with FEMA, insurance nightmares and emotional exhaustion. We know it will take years, perhaps a lifetime, to get beyond this. So we put aside disagreements we have as a nation and we do all we can to help our fellow Americans in need. We donate money to relief organizations, we donate supplies and clothing, we volunteer. We need to do this now — and especially in the coming months. I remember what that support felt like. Immediately after Sandy, camping out in my storm-damaged home, without heat, electricity, water, or sewer — having to enter with a ladder — I remember feeling grateful to have the Louisiana State Police guarding my isolated road through the salt marsh. And more gratitude a week later when a convoy of Alabama Power trucks rolled in. Distant relatives offered to come to the Shore and help; neighbors helped neighbors; strangers just showed up to lend a hand. During the recovery, it was a luxury to feel much at all. But emotions overwhelmed me when, at a community Thanksgiving dinner at Southern Regional Middle School, my wife and I picked through donated clothing for coats, hats, and gloves. Our winter clothes had washed away in Sandy. Most of us can’t imagine being in this position, accepting donations; it’s humbling. But this connection with caring, anonymous people is incredibly powerful and affirming. We offer that to Texas and Florida as well. We can also offer some hard lessons. “The system” doesn’t always work for those in need. As storm survivors, we want to make sure others don’t repeat our experiences. We can improve the system. There will be more devastating storms: We’re a nation with huge flood risks not just along our coasts, but inland as well. But we have a broken flood insurance system. For many working families it is unaffordable. We need to reimagine an affordable system that provides incentives to reduce repetitive losses and discourages future risky development. The National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) is up for renewal in Congress this year. We desperately need to fix it. The SAFE-NFIP bill, introduced in the House and Senate, has the bipartisan support of legislators from New Jersey (and other coastal states including Louisiana and Florida). Its goal is to make flood insurance more affordable while at the same time mitigate skyrocketing future losses. It’s a start. Among the key strategies: It ensures premiums don’t price families out of protection; makes mitigation funds and programs available to policyholders and communities before disasters to prevent future losses; requires FEMA to use accurate flood mapping technology; ensures the legal system isn’t stacked against policyholders and makes an appeals system begun after Sandy permanent. I believe future policy should also take into account the impact of climate change and sea level rise and include an optional buyout exit for homeowners who don’t want to, or can’t rebuild. That land can then become open space and serve as a flood buffer. We may be repeating the same mistakes if we don’t get reforms like this through Congress. Hopefully Harvey and Irma are also new wake-up calls for us in New Jersey. We are, unbelievably, a coastal state without a strategy for sea level rise. That needs to change. Our shoreline state, with so many residents vulnerable at, or near, sea level, cries out for smart long-term planning so that our communities can be more resilient when another superstorm heads our way. Ray Fisk, of Eagleswood, is the publisher of books including “Great Storms of the Jersey Shore” and “Surviving Sandy” and a member of the New Jersey Organizing Project. His office and home were severely damaged in superstorm Sandy. National Flood Insurance Program is the next storm for hurricane survivors by Amanda Devecka-Rinear
Watching Harvey descend on Houston reminded many of Superstorm Sandy in New Jersey nearly five years ago. My father is remarkable at predicting weather because he has been clamming and fishing in South Jersey for years. When a big storm or hurricane warning was issued, my father would accurately explain why it would not impact us, or would not be as bad as predicted. When the warnings for Sandy first emerged I expected the same, instead he said, “this is the one.” And he was right, again. In New Jersey, Sandy survivors watched Harvey unfold with the heaviest hearts. We understand flooding and devastation. We also understand “the storm after the storm” — the struggle to make recovery programs work for families. Just like my father knew Sandy was “the one”, we in New Jersey can predict what Harvey survivors will go through unless something changes soon. In less than thirty days the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) must be reauthorized by Congress. We have read and heard the program’s future debated by environmentalists, private insurance companies, and former FEMA officials. But those of us who have learned the hard lessons of Sandy have largely been absent from the debate. We cannot afford to have this decided for us. No one should go through what we did. And, because extreme weather and flood events are becoming more and more common, families on the frontlines deserve a NFIP they can afford to be part of that works for them. Early reports show 80 percent of families impacted by Harvey don’t have flood insurance. We’re so sorry, and we’re also sorry for those that do. Because at the moment, the NFIP works better for the private insurance companies that administer policies as part of the Write Your Own Program (WYO), than for families on the frontlines. Many Sandy-impacted families found their NFIP flood insurance settlements lower than they thought they deserved. In an October 2014 federal lawsuit in New York, a Sandy-impacted family demonstrated that their engineering report had been altered to suggest that Sandy wasn’t responsible for the bulk of the damage. Problems like this, pressure from policy holders, our elected officials, and years of other errors and lawsuits, prompted FEMA to agree to reopen and review any of the 144,000 flood claims from Sandy survivors who believed they weren’t fairly compensated. As of August 2017, 19,031 policyholders who requested a review had heard back from FEMA and a total of $225,837,528 in additional payouts had been accepted by policyholders, according to FEMA. Clearly that money should have been in the hands of storm survivors immediately after the storm, when they were crashing on couches, camping out, and figuring out how to piece together the funds to get home. While it’s important that they finally got a fair payout – we cannot let this happen to the families in Texas. While policy costs continue to rise and homeowners were systematically underpaid, the private insurance companies that administer the WYO program were making significant profits. According to an investigation conducted by PBS Frontline’s Business of Disaster program, thesecompanies made $400 million in profit for simply administering the program. At a time, when more and more people in America need, and should have access to flood insurance, many proposed reforms take the program in the wrong direction. Reforms must focus on affordability, addressing widespread fraud in the handling of claims, unfair exclusions and exceptions, and general underpayment from carriers. And, the NFIP must be re-imagined in the era of frequent flooding and extreme weather to prioritize prevention and mitigation that will save our families the pain of a disaster, and save federal funds. The SAFE NFIP reauthorization legislation introduces those key reforms. It was introduced in the Senate with nine unlikely co-sponsors: Sens. Rob Menendez (D-N.J) John Kennedy (R-La.), Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), Chris Van Hollen, (D-Md.), Thad Cochran (R-Miss.], Corey Booker(D-N.J.), Bill Nelson (D-Fla.), Bill Cassidy (R-La.) and Jack Reed(D-R.I.). Disasters do not hit along party lines. These reforms are based on experience and are uniting lawmakers from both parties. New Jersey representatives in the House have introduced the same legislation. We need to close loopholes and prevent abuses and are very wary of expanding the private flood insurance market. Now is the time to reform the NFIP so it works for families, prioritizes affordability and mitigation. The New Normal: Organizing to Break the Cycle of Climate Disaster by Rae Breaux
The record-breaking floods in Louisiana are the latest example of what many working people already know all too well: climate change has already begun, and it is wrecking our communities. So far, over 30,000 people have been evacuated from their homes, 10,000 people are in shelters, and those numbers are rising. The shelters themselves are experiencing flooding, and some families have already been relocated multiple times. At this point, almost 30 parishes have been declared major disaster areas. Our communities are literally underwater due to the extreme weather and sea level rise brought on by climate change. Just a month and a half ago, West Virginia experienced a “1,000-year flood event.” The Elk River was measured at its highest levels since such measurements began in the 1880s. Whole towns went under water, a burning house floated down the river at White Sulphur Springs, and 24 residents lost their lives to the deluge. Just a few weeks before that, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott declared a state of disaster across 31 counties in Texas due to flash floods. These storms are the new normal, and their impacts are dramatic. Superstorm Sandy hit in late 2012, and there are still communities in parts of New York and New Jersey that haven’t been rebuilt – families that are still displaced, almost four years later. We know that pollution from the extraction and burning of fossil fuels has historically affected working-class communities and communities of color. With higher asthma and cancer rates, our families have long borne the burden of the same industries that are accelerating sea-level rise and extreme weather. We are now facing the facts that “unprecedented” storms, rainfall and flooding are no longer without precedent. In fact, what we are seeing now is but a sobering preview of what we should all come to expect. It may be tempting to throw up our arms, declaring that there’s nothing we can do, that we are woefully unprepared. But we know better. There is something that we can do, and it’s something that we know how to do quite well. We need to organize. We must intervene at every level to ensure that our systems for prevention and recovery start doing their jobs effectively and accountably. One opportunity for intervention, the reauthorization of the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP), will soon be upon us. The NFIP was established in 1968 through the passage of the National Flood Insurance Act to provide government-backed insurance protection in flood-prone areas, a market from which private insurance companies had been withdrawing. If you have a mortgage, and if you live in a floodplain where FEMA designates it is required, then you have to have national flood insurance. While it is mandatory for homeowners in floodplain communities, it has proved to be a wholly inadequate response to the challenges that they face. In fact, the process for getting a payment from your flood insurance turns out to have been rife with fraud and underpayment, delays and complications that have cost families their homes and economic stability. We saw this after Superstorm Sandy, when families up and down the mid-Atlantic coast filed flood insurance claims assuming it would be OK. It was not. A PBS Frontline special, “The Business of Disaster,” that aired in May profiled Sandy survivors in New Jersey and New York, many of whom are still waiting for a fair insurance settlement and still struggling to rebuild. Their report “found that their private insurance companies that administer the government’s flood program made as much as an estimated $240 million to $406 million in profit annually over the past four years.” Which is to say, they made roughly $400 million in profit off Superstorm Sandy-affected communities. As we re-imagine programs such as the NFIP, our communities must come first before big insurance companies and outside developers. We know that the frequency of extreme weather is only increasing, and we need the programs and the funds in place now to support mitigation, preparation and recovery. If we cannot effectively oversee and monitor the private sector’s participation in these programs, then we should de-emphasize or even eliminate its participation. In short, these programs must be rebuilt now to place people and planet before profit. Storms are just the beginning. Flood survivors often say the storm was the easy part when compared to the road of recovery. Neighbors, community members, and families have come together in flood after flood to rescue one another, to help clean up and to rebuild together. Flood survivors everywhere have stories of the people who’ve touched their lives, who’ve reminded them what our communities are capable of. We must come together in that same way, now, to make sure that our government programs work for us – not Wall Street corporations. And, if experience is any indication, that’s just what we’re going to do. With Amanda Devecka-Rinear, New Jersey Organizing Project, and Gary Zuckett, West Virginia Citizen Action Group. Agencies have 'clawed back' more than $5 million in Sandy aid from New Jerseyans - By Joe Hernandez, NewsWorks
When Fran Baronowitz returned to her Ventnor, New Jersey, home four days after Superstorm Sandy, the front door was jammed. Floodwaters inside her house caused the floorboards to buckle, pushing the carpet up against the doorway. She entered through the back to find all her furniture saturated, ruined. A prized piano was reduced to a heavy piece of garbage. Baronowitz used federal and state aid to repair her home and reinforce it against future storms. She got new flooring in the kitchen, new front and back porches, new walls. A crew raised her house 6 feet off the ground. Finally, after two years, Baronowitz had recovered from Sandy. "I thought I was through with it," she said, "until I got that letter." Last August, two years after Baronowitz had moved back home, she received a notice in the mail demanding she pay back $35,174.34 in state aid. The letter said Baronowitz had "duplicated" her benefits by accepting overlapping federal and state aid. Contractors also repaired her house in ways that lacked state approval, such as using vinyl composite for the porches instead of wood. "I'm on a small income," said Baronowitz, a retired medical secretary. "I don't want to go into my savings if I can help it. But if I have to, I will." Since Sandy battered the Jersey Shore nearly five years ago, hundreds of residents who received government funds to rebuild their homes have had to pay some of it back, what the government calls a "recoupment." So far, almost 1,000 New Jersey homeowners have paid back more than $5 million in federal and state aid meant for Sandy rebuilding, WHYY has learned. Many more have yet to reimburse the agencies for overpayments. Officials at the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the New Jersey Department of Community Affairs, which disbursed storm-relief funds, say the recoupments happen because of ineligible expenses or duplicated benefits. Homeowners are warned of those risks ahead of time, the officials say. But state and federal lawmakers are now proposing changes to how disaster relief agencies recover their money, citing a recoupment process that can send struggling homeowners back into financial ruin. By the numbers The DCA-administered Reconstruction, Rehabilitation, Elevation, and Mitigation program — known as RREM — is New Jersey's largest pot of state money for Sandy victims, funded by block grants from the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development. Affected homeowners could also receive aid directly from federal sources. FEMA approved more than $1.4 billion in aid to Sandy victims, often in individual assistance paid through the National Flood Insurance Program. Other agencies, such as the Small Business Administration, also gave out financial assistance after Sandy. All told, billions of dollars flowed into New Jersey after the storm. A DCA spokesperson said more than 6,000 participants in the RREM program have returned home. A thousand more are expected to wrap up repairs this year. But moving back home is not always the end of the recovery process. In fact, for some, it means the beginning of a new nightmare. When work on a Sandy-damaged home is finished, agencies conduct a final review of the homeowner's grant. That's when the agency determines whether it needs to recoup any of the money it gave out. A recoupment could arise for a variety of reasons: The homeowner simultaneously took state and federal aid that could be considered a duplication of benefits; the contractor spent money in ways that were not approved by the agency; or the overall cost of construction was less than expected. So far, FEMA has recouped $2,786,706 from 760 Sandy victims, an average of $3,667 per person. In New Jersey, DCA has recouped $2.25 million from 171 aid recipients, averaging more than $13,000 per person. Agencies say they have no choice. They're legally required to recover overpayments. The entire process is subject to the federal Stafford Act, which mandates that homeowners cannot "receive funds from multiple sources for the same purpose or in excess of what is allowable to repair or rebuild their home," said DCA spokeswoman Lisa Ryan in an email. Agencies also say they inform aid recipients multiple times in advance and in writing about what constitutes a "duplication of benefits" and the possibility of recoupments. Yet while the recovered funds are only a tiny fraction of the total aid given out to Sandy victims, they often loom large for the homeowners who have to repay them. And as more Sandy victims have moved back home after construction, the recoupment process has been receiving increased attention. Move for changes underway Homeowners who spoke to WHYY acknowledged that agencies informed them about the risks of later recoupment. But the application process for disaster relief aid was confusing, many said, and rife with complex documents written in confounding legalese. That confusion often caused what advocates call "clawbacks" of relief aid reaching into the tens of thousands of dollars, they said. "People have the impression that every step of the way they've done what RREM asked," said Amanda Devecka-Rinear, director of the New Jersey Organizing Project, a nonprofit that formed after Sandy. "They've signed the papers, they went through this thing ... And then they get the letter, and it doesn't make any sense." Federal and state lawmakers now aim to improve the recoupment process, so homeowners are better informed about the rules and have more leeway in paying back what they might owe. "If you made a payment, and a supervisor later decided, 'I wouldn't have made that payment,' they can't go back and claim the money back from somebody," said U.S. Rep. Tom MacArthur, the Republican representing New Jersey's 3rd District and a former insurance executive. "It's not something that I experienced in my insurance life." MacArthur introduced a bill last month that would force FEMA to recoup any disaster aid within three years after the money is awarded. "This idea that years later they can do audits and change their minds is what I've tried to put an end to," he said. The bill passed a House committee last week. Legislation at the state level would overhaul the DCA recoupment process even more comprehensively, incorporating some procedures already in place at FEMA. Sponsored by four New Jersey Assembly Democrats, the bill would outline a step-by-step process for DCA to follow when recouping disaster aid, including sending a notice to the homeowner with information about how to repay. The bill would lay out a few payment plan options; force DCA to take into account homeowners' income and hardship conditions when setting payment amounts; and create a formal appeals process, something FEMA already has. The legislation passed the Assembly unanimously. Although DCA has no formal appeals process for recoupments, homeowners have said that discussions with DCA representatives can often lead to lowering how much is owed. Baronowitz, the Ventnor retiree, was able to reduce her repayment number by about $19,000. Uncertain future Despite the steps toward revamping the recoupment process, homeowners with debt letters in hand remain on edge. "I have so much anxiety. I have so much stress every time a storm comes through," said Julie Suarez of Little Egg Harbor. "It doesn't even have to be here. I watch flooding on the news, and I'm like breaking down crying for people in Louisiana that I've never met." (Suarez and Baronowitz are both members of the New Jersey Organizing Project.) The road to recovery has taken a toll on Suarez, a public school teacher with a daughter in college. Her house was uninhabitable after Sandy, so DCA helped her build a new one on the same site. Despite hiccups during the rebuilding process, Suarez and her family moved into their new home less than two years after Sandy. Then she got a recoupment letter. At first, Suarez was asked to pay back around $51,000, a fifth of the total government aid she received. But the DCA cut the debt roughly in half after negotiating with her. Still, paying it would not be easy. "My car has 317,000 miles on it. I do not live high on the hog. My other car has 168,000 miles on it. I mean, this is not a joke. I shop at, like, T.J. Maxx in the clearance section," she said. Suarez said she's willing to pay back what she owes. DCA claimed she duplicated benefits when she received aid from SBA and NFIP, though the reasons for that are still unclear to Suarez. But she knows that she cannot pay back the full amount in three years, the time limit set forth in the letter. And she worries that paying small amounts toward the debt now may be for naught if the state imposes a higher interest rate or puts a lien on her house at the end of the three-year period. (DCA says it can send the unpaid debt to the Department of Treasury for collections.) Suarez says the recoupment process feels a lot like the rebuilding process — the long phone calls to DCA, the reams of paperwork, the stress. Victims, she said, are being victimized again. "You put all these people who have been through literally emotional, physical, financial hell for the past however many years it's taken us to get back home," she said, "and throwing this on top of it. Here's your big, fat cherry on the cake." Sandy fraud payments top $5 million, hundreds of victims - By Jean Mikle, Asbury Park Press
LITTLE EGG HARBOR -- Millions of taxpayer dollars intended to help superstorm Sandy victims repair and elevate their homes has instead gone missing in a wave of contractor fraud. Sandy victims whose properties were destroyed or badly damaged were often easy marks for scammers, who preyed on people desperate to return home, consumer advocates say. A frequent complaint by Sandy homeowners and advocates: they did not receive enough guidance to help them make smart decisions during the rebuilding process. And the state did not move quickly enough to stop the flow of funds to contractors who had repeatedly done shoddy work or failed to complete storm-damaged homes. So far, the state Division of Consumer Affairs has filed civil actions against eight home improvement contractors, claiming they defrauded Sandy victims of more than $5 million in federal rebuilding aid. And New Jersey has paid out about $5.4 million to homeowners in the state's biggest Sandy rebuilding programs whose grant money was taken by contractors who failed to complete home repair or elevation projects. Stiffer penalties are needed for builders who deliberately defrauded Sandy victims, advocates say. The civil actions filed by Consumer Affairs typically seek restitution as well as fines from the home improvement contractors, but Sue Marticek, executive director of the Ocean County Long-Term Recovery Group in Toms River, says the builders often have declared bankruptcy or have little money available by the time they are charged. "Somewhere along the line, they should make the penalties really heavy," Marticek said. "If you speed in a construction zone, you get double or triple the fines. If you defraud someone in a disaster zone, you should face tougher penalties." Marticek and others who work closely with Sandy victims say contractor fraud is one of the main reasons hundreds of storm survivors remain displaced. “Most people that are still struggling to get home going on five years have hit a significant challenge during or with the with the recovery process,” said Amanda Devecka-Rinear, director of the New Jersey Organizing Project, a Sandy advocacy group based in Ocean County. “For many who aren’t home yet that challenge is contractor fraud.” Little Egg Harbor resident Edwin Byk, 61, is one victim. For a year, Byk’s three-bedroom home on a lagoon in the township’s Mystic Island section has been perched precariously on weathered wooden cribbing. Eight feet in the air, the house has been exposed to the elements for a year. Part of a front brick facade has cracked off; battered insulation hangs from interior walls. Byk said he first hired contractor J&N Construction after noticing work the firm's owner, Jamie Lynn Lawson, was doing on a neighbor's Sandy-damaged home. Byk's house had been flooded with three feet of water while he and his daughter stayed dry on the second floor during the storm's surge. He repaired the 1,800-square-foot home himself, using about $50,000 in flood insurance proceeds. But when he heard that he could get money to elevate the house through the state's largest rebuilding program for homeowners, the Reconstruction, Rehabilitation, Elevation and Mitigation program, he jumped at the chance. "I didn't want to go through that again," Byk said of the Sandy damage, "and I wanted to get lower flood insurance rates." After talking to Lawson, whose firm was in Brick, Byk signed a contract with him. He eventually gave Lawson $97,000 in RREM funds to lift the house, but it took more than a year for the contractor to start the actual elevation. Lawson lifted the house on cribbing over a weekend in July. But that was the last Byk said he saw of him. Two days after Lawson elevated the house, the township slapped a stop-work order on the property. Lawson had never applied for township permits to do the elevation, Byk said. The Ocean County Prosecutor's Office has accused Lawson of taking $1.5 million from 34 homeowners and failing to properly complete, or even start work on their Sandy-damaged homes. “If DCA would do a background check, this would never have happened,” Byk said, referring to the state Department of Community Affairs. In December 2016, he said he was contacted by DCA and told not to use Lawson for his job. That was the same month that Lawson was indicted by the Ocean County Prosecutor's Office on charges of money laundering, six counts of second-degree theft by failure to make required disposition, third-degree tampering with public records — referring to omissions made in his contracting application with the state — and one count of fourth-degree unregistered home improvement contracting. Lawson has not entered a plea yet. Lawson had moved to New Jersey shortly after Sandy and registered his business in November 2012. At the time the state was awash with contractors who had come to New Jersey to help with the rebuilding effort. The Division of Consumer Affairs, the agency that licenses numerous types of contractors, authorized Lawson's application to become a home improvement contractor, reportedly unaware he had criminal convictions in other states, according to the prosecutor's office. Authorities said Lawson moved to various states following natural disasters. Records show Lawson lived in North Carolina, Texas and Oklahoma, among other places, and then moved to New Jersey shortly after Sandy decimated much of the shore. Authorities said Lawson became a fugitive shortly after he was indicted in Ocean County. Arrested by U.S. Marshals in South Carolina in mid-June, Lawson is being held in the Ocean County Jail after a first appearance in court earlier this month. The prosecutor's office said Lawson, 42, used the money homeowners gave him for his personal expenses and to buy cars. B The Lawson case is one of more than 25 Sandy fraud cases currently being investigated by the Ocean County Prosecutor's Office, according to Sgt. Mark Malinowski, who heads the economic crimes unit. "They range from one victim to 34, 35 victims," Malinowski said of the cases, adding the fraud cost runs into the millions of dollars. "A lot of these guys bounce from town to town, and we were able, through our networks and our police departments, to find where they had been operating." Malinowski noted that his office only looks into fraud cases of more than $75,000, or are multi-jurisdictional, so there are many more contractor investigations being handled by local police departments. Malinowski estimated that Sandy fraud cases still represent about a third of his unit's caseload. In 2014, two years after the superstorm struck, and the same year that Edwin Byk decided to raise his house, the state fundamentally changed how contractors were hired in the RREM program. That summer, the state turned over the rebuilding reins to individual homeowners. Instead of the state picking contractors for property owners, which it had done in the first phase of RREM, property owners were allowed to pick their own companies. Department of Community Affairs spokeswoman Lisa Ryan has said homeowners were urged to call Consumer Affairs before hiring a contractor to learn if there were any complaints against the company. DCA revised the RREM program after homeowners overwhelmingly told department officials that they wanted to be able to pick their own contractors, Ryan has said. But most homeowners had never had to oversee such a large rebuilding project, or ever had as much cash to manage. RREM awarded a maximum of $150,000 for rebuilding and elevation projects. Overwhelmed, most just wanted to get back into their houses quickly. Byk admits he shouldn't have given Lawson so much money up front. "I didn't want to do it myself," Byk said of selecting a contractor. "I've never done anything like this before. I think the state should have kept doing it." Ryan has said that RREM has worked well for the majority of homeowners who participated in the program, allowing thousands to replace, repair and elevate their homes. Of the approximately 7,600 homeowners in RREM, 5,333 have completed construction, while about 700 more have returned home while they finish building, she said. "Nearly all of the remaining homeowners have started construction, with many of them anticipated to finish rebuilding by the end of the year," Ryan said. But Byk is one of many fraud victims still caught in limbo. New Jersey has created a process by which homeowners who were defrauded can receive an additional RREM award, up to as much as their original grant, if a government agency files a criminal or civil action against their contractor. The award is meant to pay for the work that still must be done to complete the initial project, Ryan said. But Byk has not yet been able to apply for a revised grant award. He is still awaiting notice from the prosecutor's office that indicates Lawson has been charged in his case. It's needed for him to seek funds from DCA to complete his project. Even after he receives the document, it may take awhile for him to get more money. "The length of time it takes for us to disburse RREM funds to a defrauded homeowner varies, as each project is unique and depends on the complexity of the case," DCA's Ryan said. In the meantime, Byk has paid $7,000 for new architectural and engineering plans and to get all permits needed to complete the home elevation "and make it safe," he said. Byk is renting a room in his next-door neighbor's house and is receiving rental assistance from the state. "That's the only way I've been able to afford to stay here," said Byk, who works part-time for the Tall Timbers Homeowners Association in Little Egg Harbor. State Sen. Jennifer Beck said she believes the state should do more for homeowners in the RREM and Low and Moderate Income Homeowners Rebuilding program who are victims of fraud. In 2015, Beck, R-Monmouth, first introduced the "Superstorm Sandy Homeowners Protection Act," which would allow DCA to bar contractors who commit fraud from working in New Jersey and strip them of their licenses. It also would allow the state Attorney General to sue on behalf of homeowners for contractor negligence. The law limits the attorney general's office to sue in criminal cases only. "It is the State of New Jersey's responsibility to defend our homeowners," Beck said. "It's our responsibility to take this to the mat for them." Beck's bill is awaiting action in the Senate Budget and Appropriations Committee but has not come up for a vote there. "The travesty is, there were project managers assigned (by the state)," in RREM, Beck said. "Most homeowners assumed they were going to manage the project. But they didn't. The project managers were just there to make sure the money was spent according to HUD guidelines." Byk, who once planned to spend his retirement years in Mystic Island, is so frustrated with his experiences that he's now thinking of moving away after he finally completes his elevation project. "For a year the house has been up," Byk said. "I never should have raised it. I should have left it like it was." |
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January 2020
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