Six Years Too Long
By Senator Chris Brown
Waiting just five years caused Eric Clapton to sing the blues in Five Long Years. “Have you ever been mistreated?/Then you know just what I’m talking about.”
Well, too many New Jersey families who weathered the full brunt of Superstorm Sandy for two days, have been mistreated for six long years. Sandy relief programs, were supposedly designed to help families get back in their homes and on their feet. While the storm broke houses, the bureaucracy is breaking the will, patience, and budgets of our middle class families. It’s well passed the time to bring closure to thousands of families who just want to move back into their homes and on with their lives.
The only thing worse than Superstorm Sandy has been the recovery, so it’s no surprise polls revealed a third of Sandy victims are still not in their homes. Twelve percent have lost so much faith in the system they now consider themselves “permanently displaced.” I hear families say they wish they never applied for help.
It’s heartbreaking to listen to the stories from families, who have suffered through the complex application process that in too many cases included the State losing their paperwork, giving them conflicting or just plain bad advice, changing their project managers multiple times, and causing unexplained delays.
“I did everything the State and my project manager told me to do. I filed my paperwork in time and everything went smoothly,” Fran Baronowicz told me when I met with a group of Sandy victims. “After I finally moved into my house, the State, out of nowhere, sent me a bill for over $35,000, which is more than I make in a year.”
Many families, like Ms. Baronowicz, who lost nearly everything in the storm, who sunk every last penny into rebuilding their homes, following the guidance of their case managers, only to receive letters from the State requiring them to pay thousands of dollars back (often called a “clawback”) without a clear explanation of why and offering no method to appeal the State’s decision.
We need a fair and sensible process to address clawbacks, which is I’ve joined with my colleagues from both sides of the aisle in sponsoring a bill to provide a process to assist families with clawbacks. Additionally, I’ve also asked the Murphy Administration to find a way to provide relief to families administratively by making the process more consumer-friendly.
As if trying to weather the bureaucracy wasn’t enough of a burden, contractor fraud is further taking a toll on families and wasting limited public dollars and draining personal savings.
Angel Eguaras, for example, chose one of the State-approved contractors to rebuild his home, but that contractor failed to complete the work according to the architect and engineer’s specifications.
“The masonry work by the contractor violated the building code. The defects are so numerous that I was told the masonry should be demolished and reconstructed,” Mr. Eguaras told me.
Instead of holding their contractor accountable, the State initially put the burden of going after the contractor on Mr. Eguaras. In an even more bizarre twist, some victims of contractor fraud are actually being sued by the unscrupulous contractors.
Unfortunately, many families still cannot move on with their lives because contractor complaints are not being resolved expeditiously, which is I why urged both the Attorney General and the Atlantic County Prosecutor to expedite the investigation and resolution of contractor fraud cases. In response, the Attorney General’s office assured me it will continue its work to have unscrupulous contractor suits against fraud victims dismissed.
While the AG’s office investigates contractor fraud, we still need to make it easier for victims of fraud to get their money back. However, the current application process is too burdensome for families. I’m sponsoring a bipartisan bill which will provide an alternate method for victims of fraud to apply for relief so they be made whole.
Moreover, the delays in construction and reimbursement have forced families to apply for foreclosure forbearance until they can get back on their feet. Unfortunately, many of these families are not back in their home and need more time, which is why I am sponsoring another bi-partisan bill to extend the forbearance program two more years.
Of course, the State needs to do more, and working with local families and the NJ Organizing Project, an advocacy group for Sandy-victims, I will continue my efforts to bring relief to families who are simply looking to move on with their lives. After six long years of mistreatment, our families know what I’m talking about and we need to bring them closure.
Chris Brown is a decorated combat veteran of Operation Desert Shield/Storm, while serving with the 82nd Airborne Division. 1Lt. Brown was awarded the Bronze Star and Combat Infantryman Badge for his service while spearheading the ground offensive into Iraq. In 2008, Chris was activated to war a second time to serve in Operation Iraqi Freedom. He served in the NJ General Assembly since 2012 and was elected State Senator in 2018.
