Half of Sandy low-income aid applications denied

Nearly half the cash-strapped homeowners who applied for a second round of superstorm Sandy rebuilding aid have been turned down, at least initially.

More than 1,000 applications for the Low- and Moderate Income Homeowners Rebuilding Program were submitted by the March 20 deadline, according to the New Jersey Department of Community Affair's latest report to its federal Sandy aid sponsors. The DCA is directing nearly all of the state's Sandy recovery programs.

During a presentation to the Monmouth County Long Term Recovery Group Wednesday morning, DCA special adviser Stacie Mesuda told a roomful of disaster recovery advocates that "more than 500" of the applicants — or half the number that applied — would be receiving letters by the end of next week alerting them to their preliminary acceptance and the next steps in the program.

When asked by the Asbury Park Press for clarification, DCA spokeswoman Lisa Ryan said that 540 applicants had received preliminary approval. However, she continued, 430 applicants were rejected for one of three reasons:

•They did not meet the program's eligibility criteria — LMI is only open to households that fit the low- and moderate-income definition. For examples, in Monmouth and Ocean counties the cut-off for a two-person household is $55,850 in annual income and $69,800 for four.

•They were enrolled in the Reconstruction, Rehabilitation, Elevation, and Mitigation (RREM) program, which offers the same benefit as the LMI program. Both provide up to $150,000 to eligible homeowners, but LMI has the income restrictions.

•They had received federal assistance for a previous flood but did not maintain flood insurance on the property, as they were required by law to do.

Another 35 were mailed letters requesting additional information before the DCA could make a positive determination on their eligibility.

Much of the demand for the LMI program comes from Ocean County, where 397 of the 1,005 applications originated, according to a quarterly compliance report from the DCA. Monmouth County accounted for 116 of the applications.

Last year, the Fair Share Housing Center found that about four in five of those who were rejected from RREM initially should have been accepted. Adam Gordon, an attorney with Fair Share, told the Press on Wednesday that they would look into the LMI program, but could not comment without additional information.

Other Sandy updates from the meeting:

•1,088 homes have been completed through RREM, according to Mesuda. It's not clear how many of those homes are elevated, which doesn't have to be done until October 2016, but it's considerably more than what the state reported six months ago.

•The Rental Assistance Program, which it was announced Tuesday would be making some fundamental changes to better accomodate put-out homeowners, is expected to receive an additional $19.5 million in federal money to meet the demand. Mesuda said this was contingent upon the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services approving an extension of their grant, which required all money to be spent by the end of September.

•More than 3,000 applications were received for the Tenant-Based Rental Assistance Program, which was made available to low- and moderate-income renters who live in one of the nine most impacted New Jersey counties, including Monmouth and Ocean. Only 1,400 spots are available to the program, which provides up to 24 months of aid, and a lottery system is in place.

Russ Zimmer: 732-557-5748, razimmer@GannettNJ.com

Who applied for the LMI Homeowners Rebuilding program?

Earlier this year, the state solicited applications from low- and moderate-income homeowners whose properties were damaged by superstorm Sandy but who didn't apply for the Reconstruction, Rehabilitation, Elevation, and Mitigation (RREM) program, which is the largest Sandy homeowner aid initiative in New Jersey. A total of 1,005 applications were submitted by the time the application window closed in March. Here are the towns with the most applications.

Toms River: 107

Atlantic City: 100

Moonachie: 68

Little Ferry: 64

Brick: 55

Little Egg Harbor: 36

Ventnor City: 31

Stafford: 29

Lacey: 22

Keansburg: 18

Source: New Jersey Department of Community Affairs, Voluntary Compliance Agreement report

How many LMI applications were submitted in Monmouth and Ocean counties?

Toms River: 107

Brick: 55

Little Egg Harbor: 36

Stafford: 29

Lacey: 22

Berkeley: 17

Long Beach Township: 16

Long Branch: 16

Union Beach: 16

Point Pleasant Beach: 12

Seaside Park: 10

Middletown: 10

Neptune: 10

Beach Haven: 9

Lavallette: 9

Manasquan: 9

Point Pleasant: 9

Tuckerton: 9

Seaside Heights: 8

Barnegat: 4

Hazlet: 4

Sea Bright: 4

Eagleswood: 3

Lakewood: 2

Mantaloking: 2

Ocean Township: 2

Ship Bottom: 2

Surf City: 2

Asbury Park: 1

Eatontown: 1

Lakehurst: 1

Manalapan: 1

Manchester: 1

Oceanport: 1

Rumson: 1

South Toms River: 1