JERSEY CITY – Hudson County lost more than $2 million out of $4 million in Hurricane Sandy renter and home owner relief because agencies assigned with the task of finding people in need failed to reach out into the community, county officials said at the Jan. 20 Board of Freeholder caucus.
The one noted exception, said Freeholder Bill O’Dea, was the Bayonne Equal Opportunity Foundation, a not-for-profit that runs a number of programs including Head Start, senior meals programs, weatherization, and homeless prevention.
The Sandy/Homeowner/Renter Assistance Program (SHRAP) is time-limited to six months of assistance per household. In order to be eligible for the program, an individual or family unit must have financial distress directly related to housing as a direct result of Superstorm Sandy.
Freeholder Chairman Junior Maldonado said the ineffectiveness of the outreach to distribute funds to people in need caused the state to take back half of the original allegation.
County agencies lost more than $2 million in Hurricane Sandy aid
