Mittleman said that while the IMA program is encouraging, few displaced homeowners have received checks, and many are struggling to pay their rent, mortgages and taxes. The acquisition program has had very few closings in Nassau County, she added, and she has called for NY Rising to hold town hall meetings to explain the recent changes to the program and the status of payouts.

Gialanze, who had finished paying the mortgage on her home and had flood insurance, said she was denied a full reimbursement from her insurance company because of the earth movement exclusion, and was relying on NY Rising to make her whole.

“I’d rather just get out — as much as we’d like to be home and go back to Long Beach, I just don’t want to deal with it anymore,” she said. “I don’t want to be in debt until I’m 86 years old. My husband and I got married in our 20s, we paid our house off sooner and I did everything I was supposed to do. And now … I feel like I have to start all over again.”