Sandy-related repairs to NYCHA housing may take four more years to complete

When Hurricane Sandy paid New York City a visit back in 2012, it left a true mess behind that’s taking longer to fix than residents anticipated. Thirty-three public housing developments suffered severe damage at the hands of the storm, and after five years, only one—the Lower East Side Rehab V—has been repaired, despite the city receiving $3 billion in federal recovery funds.

Repairs to the city’s Sandy-devastated NYCHA housing developments could extend across years to come. At a City Council hearing held to discuss the delayed recovery work, city officials revealed that the project may stretch all the way into 2021, nearly a decade post-Hurricane Sandy, reports DNAinfo.

The city anticipates that each project will take roughly 18 to 36 months to repair, and says that the 2021 timeframe is the “worst-case scenario.” However, a more optimistic timeline wasn’t offered.

“These projects are not simple,” says NYCHA director of recovery and resiliency Michele Moore. "We're not just building new boilers, we're building new boilers and elevating structures, we're getting full backup power generators—that's something NYCHA has never had before."

Currently, only six buildings are already under construction; another six are awaiting acceptance of construction bids, and 11 are just in the design phase.

• Sandy-Damaged NYCHA Developments May Not Be Fixed Until 2021, Official Says [DNAinfo]