Sandy grants help financially strained residents

Published December 13, 2013
By Susanne Cervenka

A push is under way to link grant money to residents financially strained by the impact of superstorm Sandy.

The Sandy Homeowners Renters Assistance Program, or SHRAP, provides up to $15,000 to each household either through direct rent or mortgage payments or vouchers for furniture and household items.

Representatives of the Affordable Housing Alliance, one of the nonprofit groups selected to accept applications and distribute the grants, will go to hard-hit municipalities starting Monday to meet with potential applicants.

“We just know it is easier to bring the services to the people,” said Christine Burke-Eskwitt, director of devel-opment for the Affordable Housing Alliance. “It’s a tough time, people are very stretched.”

The money can be used to help residents offset costs, for example, of renting temporary housing while also pay-ing the mortgage on their home. Residents also can use the program to receive vouchers for items such as wash-ers and dryers, couches and beds.

SHRAP is a $57 million statewide initiative. About 40 percent of the money was given to Jersey Shore counties to distribute to residents.

Ocean County received $13.4 million from the program, which will be distributed through Ocean, Inc. The nonprofit group has offices in Stafford and Brick for the program.

Of its total, more than $1 million has been distributed so far.

The $9 million Monmouth County received will be distributed seven different agencies, including the Afforda-ble Housing Alliance, which received $5.2 million of the county’s grant. In Monmouth County, about $600,000 has been given out to 114 families.

Middletown, the only municipality to apply for a slice of the Monmouth County money, received $1.5 million of the allotment. Those dollars will be distributed through the township’s planning department and will be available only to Middletown residents whose homes have been deemed “substantially damaged” by the build-ing official, Township Administrator Anthony Mercantante said.

Middletown residents impacted by Sandy whose homes weren’t substantially damaged still can seek the funds through other nonprofit agencies, he said.

Middletown officials sought the separate segment of funding for their residents to make certain they had a good chance at getting some of the funding.

“My thinking was I wanted to make sure Middletown victims had a shot at being applicants,” Mercantante said. “That’s the way we were able to do it.”

Middletown will have information about the program early next week and expects to start processing applica-tions in January.

Burke-Eskwitt urged all residents needing financial help to apply. Staff at her agency often see middle-class families, many of whom never have had to ask for assistance, assume they won’t be eligible for the grants.

But often, either the families do qualify or the staff know of other grants that would meet their needs if they don’t qualify for the original grant, Burke-Eskwitt said.

“We really want people to call us, go online, come see us and let us take a look at their situation,” she said. “Really, we’re just here to help. Let us help you make that determination. Don’t self diagnose.”