A year after Hurricane Sandy, only a quarter of the federal relief funding set aside for housing assistance programs has reached New Jersey residents affected by the storm, according to an analysis released today by a coalition of housing groups.

The Christie administration quickly countered the claim, saying about a third of the money has been dispensed.

Whether its a third or a fourth, that’s still too little after all the time that has passed, said U.S. Rep. Bill Pascrell Jr. (D-9th Dist.).

"A majority of the funds I fought alongside my colleagues for in Congress have still not been allocated to the families that desperately need them," Pascrell said. "I urge the state to ensure that these federally funded programs are getting resources to families as quickly as possible so they can get their lives back together once and for all."

The Fair Share Housing Center and Housing and Community Development Network of New Jersey said they found that of the nearly $1.16 billion dedicated to helping homeowners and renters recover from Sandy, less than $283 million has been distributed. The groups relied on data, some of it a month old, obtained from the state through open public records requests and press releases.

Lisa Ryan, a spokeswoman for the state Department of Community Affairs, said the groups’ figure was inaccurate.

As of Monday, more than $394 million of the $1.16 billion had been distributed, she said today. That’s about 34 percent.

It was the first time the state put a comprehensive number to the total amount of housing assistance released since Sandy.

Adam Gordon, staff attorney with the Fair Share Housing Center, said his group received the data it needed to make the analysis only after taking the state to court for not releasing the information through an open public records request.

"The whole reason why we had to litigate and cobble all this stuff together was because they are not being transparent about where this money is going," Gordon said. "It shouldn’t be that we have to request this information. It shouldn’t be that we have to litigate it to get it."

Gordon said the data should be accessible online to anyone who wants it.

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development approved in April the state’s plan to spend some $1.83 billion in the first round of Community Development Block Grants for Sandy relief efforts. Of that money, nearly $1.16 billion was allocated for housing assistance programs, with the largest initiative targeted at homeowners through the Reconstruction, Rehabilitation, Elevation and Mitigation, or RREM, program. The state set aside $600 million for that program.

Homeowners approved for the grant, which offers up to $150,000 to repair storm-damaged properties, have complained about excruciating delays in the process, fueled by lost paperwork and poor communication. Until last month, no one had received money through that program.

About 4,300 homeowners have been approved for the grants, while more than 8,700 households sit on a waiting list.

Olivia DeCellio is one of those on the waiting list, hoping she’ll get a slice of the funds to help her move back home to Highlands.

For more than a year her bungalow on Gravelly Point Road has been sitting vacant. She said today she was initially denied for the RREM program, told that she suffered less than $8,000 in damage and less than a foot of flooding. Meanwhile, she said, "The house is condemned and cannot be rebuilt."

DeCellio, 67, said she successfully appealed only to be put on a waiting list. "I should have not been denied on that in the first place, that just made the process take longer," she said.

She has been staying in temporary housing at Fort Monmouth, but she said she has to leave there by March 31.

She called the entire process "very frustrating."

"I don’t know where I’m headed," she said. "I don’t have the money yet to start rebuilding, and I don’t know if I’m going to get that grant or not."

The state announced last week it is seeking federal approval to reallocate $110 million from a small-business program to the RREM initiative, a move that would help up to 1,100 homeowners move off the waiting list. So far, the state has obligated nearly $34 million of the $600 million dedicated to the RREM program.

The state has given out funding for another grant program targeted for homeowners more quickly.

Of the $180 million allocated for the Housing Resettlement grant program, nearly $172 million has been distributed. That program offers up to $10,000 for homeowners who pledge to stay for three years in the county they lived in when Sandy hit.

Ryan cited the wrangling by federal legislators in initially approving disaster relief for the region, as well as strict federal requirements, as sources of the delays.

"Nonetheless, in the six months since the federal money first started arriving in New Jersey in May, we’ve already moved more than a third of the housing recovery funds out the door," she said. She said the state is working hard to get help to the residents who need it.

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