City officials say they have been trying to help residents who are still displaced expedite the process of getting back into their homes. On Jan. 22, the City Council passed a resolution that made permanent new home height limits the city set last year, so that residents raising their homes in the wake of Sandy will have one less permit to apply for. The height limit is now 23 feet for the entire city, which allows residents to build a FEMA-compliant home without a variance, Kemins said.

But the addition of the sprinkler requirement only adds to the obstacles many residents continue to face nearly 16 months after the storm, officials said.

“There are people who are not happy about it, and I can’t blame them,” Kemins said. “The timing was horrible; people are cash-strapped right now. They can’t even afford to build the way the house was, and now new mandates are being tagged on to them.”

NY Rising, the state agency tasked with distributing federal Sandy aid, announced on the social media site Tumblr on Jan. 28 that federal funds, administered through the program, would cover the cost of installing the new systems. Additionally, Kemins said, NY Rising representatives told him they would cover the costs. However, no formal announcement was made, and a representative did not return calls seeking comment at press time.

Many in Long Beach are already fighting the agency for money, and receiving a fraction of what they were originally told they were eligible for, so this guarantee means little to them. “NY Rising has very much failed us,” said Canals resident Kevin Reilly, who received just $712 from the agency for his Sandy-damaged home. “We’re not going to be able to build with what NY Rising gave us.”