Jon Kaiman, who was appointed to serve as an advisor to New York Rising on Long Island, defended the program, and told the Herald last week that it has closed on some grants and that the application process is still open. The average award is $112,000 in Nassau County, he said, and money will be distributed over the next few weeks and coming months, he said.

NY Rising has received more than 4,400 applications for homeowner assistance from across the state — over 4,000 from Long Island alone. Statewide, $484 million has been authorized for awards so far, $451 million of that for Long Islanders.

Generally, the maximum award is $300,000, but, according to Kaiman, homeowners must follow rebuilding guidelines. Some green building standards will be imposed, only certain materials are approved for use and the grant will not pay for “luxury items” such as granite countertops, landscaping or tile flooring, he said. For homeowners who have already gone ahead with work, their expenses may be reimbursable. And those for whom the cost of repairs is more than 50 percent of the value of their home, and who live within the “100-year floodplain,” are eligible for an additional $50,000 to raise their homes, Kaiman said.

“Some continue to be frustrated, and we’re going to do whatever we can within the rules and regulations to get them the best results that we can,” he said. “The issue really is, what’s the actual cost? People are adding things to the cost of reconstruction that of course they should add, but those are not eligible under our program.”

Kaiman also said that officials are looking into the SBA provision.

“We are exploring out options,” he said. “But these are federal guidelines that have been used for decades, and there’s questions as to how one would address that. The one thing that’s clear is that SBA is considered under the law to be a duplication of benefits. We can’t do anything other than apply those rules.”


Resident Anita Daly, who remains displaced from her New Hampshire Street home, said she is relying on NY Rising funding to completely rebuild her home. Though she received an insurance reimbursement, it was not enough to cover those costs.