USA: Rebuilding after a hurricane: Why does it take so long?
By Kaya Laterman
Six years after Hurricane Sandy, there are still about 2,000 households mired in the rebuilding process.
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This is mostly because the United States lacks a unified, permanent national disaster recovery system. Instead, federal agencies work with the affected states, each of which has its own standards and protocols. Other variables include whether homeowners have flood insurance, the solvency and skills of homeowners and contractors and, quite simply, luck and timing.
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There is not enough help for homeowners after a storm. Why?
Consumer protection laws are weak
When contractor disputes and fraud issues became an issue in Long Island, it was clear that New York laws were not strong enough, said Melissa Luckman, a law professor and director of Touro Law Center’s Disaster Relief Clinic.
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We need more trained caseworkers
About 11,000 homeowners enrolled in the NY Rising program. In 2015, New York’s recovery agency said there were about 131 caseworkers in the state, each one handling between 50 and 200 cases, according to Madhu Beriwal, the chief executive of a disaster management firm that provided staffing, among other vendors, for a period after Sandy. Currently 44 caseworkers oversee close to 2,000 households in New York state.
And lawyers
Although there were lawyers who volunteered at FEMA’s disaster recovery center right after Sandy, the demand for legal services continued several years after, said William Friedman, a lawyer and former director for the New York Legal Assistance Group.
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