How the 'the rich get richer' under a HUD disaster aid program designed to help Hurricane Sandy victims

28 December 2022

When architect Erik Furno and his wife applied for assistance to rebuild their $2.6 million home after Hurricane Sandy, the couple did not expect to receive the maximum repair amount of $150,000, Politico reports. But they did.

Furno said he was “shocked” to receive the money, but it’s just one of many payments, POLITICO’s E&E News reported, from a Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) funded federal disaster relief program originally designed to support the financially disadvantaged.

This report comes after POLITICO’s E&E News investigated the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA)’s disaster aid program that essentially helped wealthy and white communities.

Disaster aid expert and past HUD analyst, Carlos Martín, said “It really stinks,” because “that’s not who the disaster recovery program is intended to serve.”

Sara Pratt, a former HUD deputy assistant secretary told Politico, “The disaster recovery program is designed to fund people who are on their last legs. These are people who are poor, have little and in many cases have lost everything.”

Connecticut officials noted that over $1 million in home damage was left unrepaired in Bridgeport, one of the states poorest cities, despite their assertion that they “followed federal rules when allocating the HUD money,” and that, “Priority was given to low-income owners, and if there were available funds, then a higher income applicant could receive assistance.”

Politico reports that the state had also planned to build 100 rental homes after Hurricane Sandy, but fell short by settling on just 26 new apartments. A historic Black church that suffered during in the storm has not received any funds and has yet to reopen.

“HUD recognizes that in high-cost real estate markets there may be an unmet housing need that extends to properties and areas with high market values,” the agency said in a recent statement.

When E&E News told Evonne Klein, former Connecticut housing commissioner that some of the aid money went to the owner of a $5.5 million home,” her initial response was, “Wow.” Then she said, “Look, I mean — I mean, the bulk of our funding went toward people who were not wealthy. And we met all of the HUD requirements.”

The outcome of the relief program comes at no surprise to former president of a Bridgeport South End apartment cooperative, MaryAnn Provey.

She said, “That’s the way it goes. The rich get richer and the poor get poorer, especially in a situation like this.”

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