FEMA seeks to recoup $5.8 million in Sandy aid

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Lisa Parisi of Oceanside is one of the lucky ones.

When her home on Carrel Avenue was damaged by Hurricane Sandy, most of the reconstruction costs were covered by her flood insurance. For the portion that wasn’t covered, Parisi was one of the thousands of people who applied for and received aid from the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

Many Long Islanders, including those who have still not received the money they were promised, have expressed frustration with FEMA’s handling of their applications. In addition, NY Rising, which is tasked with the distribution of billions of dollars in federal Sandy aid money allocated to the state by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, has so far disbursed only a portion of the funds it has pledged to pay storm victims. Nonetheless, in the 23 months since the storm, FEMA’s assistance to the Northeast has totaled about $1.4 billion.

Now, however, some of the very people FEMA helped are being informed that they have to give back some of the money they received. According to program officials and data obtained by the Associated Press last week, FEMA is scrutinizing about 4,500 households — including 500 on Long Island — that it suspects received improper payments.

According to the agency, it will attempt to recoup the payments in instances in which it believes a household mistakenly got more money than allowed under program rules — though not necessarily through an attempt to cheat the system. Many people who have been asked to return money were deemed ineligible for aid because their damaged properties were not their primary homes, or because they received money for repairs later covered by insurance.

Last week, Parisi received a letter from FEMA telling her she had to repay $306, without explaining why. “I got a notice the other day saying that FEMA did an audit, and I owe that money back,” she said. “It didn’t say why. I don’t even know where they came up with that total, or if I ever got that money.”

Parisi said she planned to check her bank records and then call FEMA.

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