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Mayor de Blasio a year ago said that Build it Back would be completed by the end of 2016.
By Michael V. Cusenza
Mayor Bill de Blasio has informed residents that the administration will not be able to wrap up the beleaguered Build it Back program by the end of this year, a deadline set by Hizzoner in October 2015.
“Last year, we had hoped to complete all single‐family Build it Back homes by the end of 2016. We will fall short of that goal, for which my team and I take personal responsibility,” de Blasio wrote in a BIB Progress Update that was released last Thursday. “While Build it Back’s single‐family program will not be completed by the end of this year, we are getting closer to our goal with every passing day… As more and more homes have progressed, we’ve gained a much clearer sense of the most challenging cases, and recognition that it will take more than the remaining weeks ahead to bring them to completion. Best‐laid plans need to change when confronted with the realities families and communities face on the ground. “
This is at least the second time in the past four weeks that BIB has garnered negative headlines. Last month, a published report indicated that the Housing Recovery Operations initiative is wildly over budget, with New Yorkers set to foot part of the ballooning bill.
According to the Wall Street Journal, “significant cost overruns in Build it Back appear to be leaving city taxpayers on the hook for some of the storm-protection initiatives. The program is about $500 million over budget.”
Asked for clarification, a City Hall spokesperson said, “Our goal is to invest and create resilient neighborhoods, and we’ve identified additional needs to accomplish this goal. The money allocated will help us move homeowners into more resilient housing without sacrificing any of our current resiliency or non-resiliency projects.”
In the October update, de Blasio also noted that the City is “implementing two new approaches in response to the specific challenges faced by the most complex reconstructions and elevations we are encountering:
- “We are pursuing mayoral and legislative actions to streamline processes related to demolition, unrelated open permits and violations, and Builder’s Pavement Plan requirements. These actions will speed projects further while maintaining an emphasis on safety.
- “We are providing additional acquisition incentives of up to $150,000 for homeowners who face the longest and most costly rebuild circumstances, bringing the total available incentive to $650,000.”
The mayor added that his administration has begun “a comprehensive evaluation” of the successes and failures of BIB and other recovery programs.
“Some lessons are already apparent. From its outset, government‐managed rebuilding and construction of thousands of unique single‐family homes has not proven effective at reaching families with the speed they deserve, or with the efficiency we demand from the public sector,” he said. “We must, and we will, develop a better model that can serve our city in future crises.”
