For residents of Monmouth County still dealing with homes damaged by superstorm Sandy, the process of rebuilding can be tedious.
State Sen. Jennifer Beck (R-Monmouth) has said her office has been flooded with calls from residents asking her assistance to help keep the process moving.
“Citizens shouldn’t have to call their state senator when they are having a problem,” said Beck.
“The system and the organizational process should allow for complaints to escalate and get resolved.”
The “Sandy Homeowners Protection Act,” which Beck is the primary sponsor of in the state Senate, aims to hold those involved in the rebuilding process accountable.
At a press conference on Oct 7, Beck focused on project managers, home advisors, as well as contractors, who do not remain in contact with homeowners, leading to delays in the rebuilding process.
“In many cases project managers and housing advisors aren’t returning phone calls. They leave and they never tell anyone. No new person is assigned, and homeowners are sitting there for months on end calling and calling and not even knowing that the person isn’t even there anymore,” said Beck.
“We’ve had contractors holding home owners hostage, subtly threatening them that if they complain that they might not do the work properly or they may delay doing the work, and homeowners then being afraid to complain.”
Under the bill, which would strengthen the Consumer Fraud Act, the parties responsible would be held accountable through guidelines created to ensure that they stay in contact with homeowners.
According to Beck, the bill would allow the state Attorney General and the Department of Community Affairs to investigate people who are not adhering to their timeline, who are not building to uniform construction codes or are not following the program requirements.
The bill allows for these contractors to be fined or to be made to redo the work. In the most extreme cases, the state could bar these contractors from working in the state.
“This allows the state to protect our homeowners in a way that they can’t protect them right now,” said Beck.
The bill also sets standards for municipalities to issue permits and review designs in a timely way, according to Beck.
According to Beck, Monmouth and Ocean counties were two of the most affected areas in the state.
“I think in Monmouth County there really isn’t a more important issue right now,” said Beck
“We are [at] the third anniversary of superstorm Sandy and we still have almost 7,000 people going through the RREM [Rehabilitation Reconstruction, Elevation and Mitigation] program.”
The bill was introduced in the state Senate on June 29 and referred to the Senate Community and Urban Affairs Committee. An identical bill was proposed in the state Assembly the same day and is currently in the Assembly Housing and Community Development Committee.
Contact Michael Nunes at mnunes@gmnews.com.