Completion of Sandy repairs jumps to 60 percent

Mayor Bill de Blasio’s pressure and new appointments to the Sandy repair program helped quicken the pace of work completed since the storm’s fourth anniversary in October.

New statistics show that the Build It Back program’s completed Sandy-related construction projects increased from 44 percent to 60 percent of the 5,349 households it promised to help.

This means that of the 8,374 homeowners that remained in the program during its seemingly sluggish progress, 90 percent have either received checks from the city or have had the city at least start construction on their homes.

However, some from the 5,349 homeowners have dropped out of the program since October.

Shortly after de Blasio announced that the city would not be able to deliver on its pledge to rebuild every Sandy-damaged home by its fourth anniversary, the city hired Lou Mendes, a former Bloomberg official with experience in the 9/11 cleanup and construction of the 9/11 museum, to expedite the problematic Build It Back initiative.

“The team has been hard at work completing hundreds of projects and getting families home for the New Year. Every home and family is unique. This is painstaking work,” Amy Peterson, director of the Mayor’s Office of Housing Recovery Operations, told the New York Daily News.

“We intend to continue to push the pace throughout the winter,” Peterson said.