Mayor de Blasio announced: “The Build it Back single-family home program will be complete by the end of 2016.”

h. nazan ışık—

30 October 2015—

“Well, we all know three years ago our city suffered its – literally, its worst natural disaster ever, and it changed people’s lives fundamentally, and so many of the communities affected.” said Mayor Bill de Blasio on October 29 on Maple Terrace, Staten Island.

Mayor de Blasio talkind about Built it Back Program in Staten Island

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 Mayor de Blasio is talking about the Build it Back single-family home program during a speech on Staten Island

Three year ago Hurricane Sandy caused severe damage in New York, New Jersey. The storm surge from Sandy hit New York City on October 29, flooded streets, tunnels and subway lines and cutting power in and around the city. One of those streets was Maple Terrace on Staten Island.

Mayor Bill de Blasio visited Maple Terrace and announced that the Build it Back single-family home program will be complete by the end of 2016.

And continued: “To date, 2,015 contraction starts since we came in, and 1,217 homes completed. I can now say that every single homeowner who applied for a reimbursement check has one in hand. We’re very proud of that. 5,319 checks have been sent out, totaling $104 million dollars. In total, 63 percent of the Build It Back families now have either seen a construction start or completion, or have received the checks.”

Mayor de Blasio is letting the home owner whom house is elevated with the Build it Back program tell her story on Staten Island,

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MaryLou Barsia and her husband Frank Barsia (in blue) whose house badly damaged got their home elevated and repaired.

Mary Lou Barcia said: “ I was at work, and was not able to reach Frank who was home. I didn’t know if he was alive or dead. He survived but he was trapped in the attic all night until the morning.”

She wanted her house to be elevated nine feet off the grounds for repairs.

3 years after Sandy, fixed, elevated house in Staten Island on display. Owners moved in.

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The house was lifted 9 feet, and there was even an elevator on the side.

Frank Barcia came to the microphone: “Build it Back promised to get it fixed in 90 days, and they did fix my house in 90 days” he said.

Almost two-thirds of people in the pool have been served in one way or another so far, said mayor de Blasio, and continued: “But that is not enough. We have to finish the job. So, today, we commit to finishing the Build It Back program for single-family homes by the end of next year.

Every single home – that is our mission to get families back in their homes, to use all of the tools we have developed to get it done by the end of next year.”

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