It started out as a program to help those affected by Superstorm Sandy, but now, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo has announced that a state plan to use $400 million dollars to buy out homes in the flood plain will also extend to those whose properties were flooded during Hurricane Irene and Tropical Storm Lee in 2011.
The buyouts are separate from the buyout program run by FEMA, which is already underway in localities in our region. Money for this additional buy-back program will come instead from Community Development Block Grants issued through the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development. Cuomo was the top official in HUD before his run for Governor of New York.
Cuomo estimated that New York will get half of a recent $16 billion dollars the U.S. Senate approved for the HUD block grants. He is asking for $400 million of that for the flood buyouts.
