The city’s slow-to-start Rapid Repairs program completed work on more than 10,000 houses hit hardest by Hurricane Sandy, according to a report released yesterday by Mayor Bloomberg’s office.
The initiative offers free emergency repairs on heat, power and hot water for people who could not return to their homes because of severe storm damage. FEMA funded most of the home-repair program.
“So far, the groundbreaking Rapid Repairs program has helped more than 10,000 families take a major step down the road to recovery from one of the worst natural disasters in this city’s history — and it is on track to help thousands more,” Bloomberg said in a statement.
The program was criticized months after the October superstorm for not being quick enough to restore houses in some of the most ravaged neighborhoods. In December, only 400 of the homes that needed repair were fixed, according to reports.
Rapid Repairs was created to divert funds away from housing homeless New Yorkers and using the money to make their homes habitable again.