Homes Damaged by Hurricane Sandy Not Set to Be Demolished in New York

Hundreds of homes in Brooklyn, Staten Island and Queens that were deemed to be damaged beyond repair are set to be demolished by the city of New York. However, it is not yet entirely clear if the homeowners are required to pay the cost of demolition; a notice sent by the New York Department of Buildings stated that the city would withhold the charges incurred by the city for demolition services, but the notice didn’t specify whether or not it would be temporary or permanent. However, many homeowners whose homes were destroyed in Breezy Point, Queens were alarmed to receive a notice stating that they were to be held liable for failure to maintain their buildings properly, and might be prosecuted as a result.

According to the New York Department of Buildings, these notices were a formality, and property owners shouldn’t fear any legal action or fines. But homeowners do not necessarily feel comforted by this news, since the messages sent out by the department and different council members have been so oblique that it is impossible to know for certain what course of action will be taken. One thing is clear, however, 200 homes will be demolished by the city, and several hundred more will be evaluated to determine structural integrity.

80,000 Buildings Have Been Evaluated from Damage Caused by Sandy

The damage from Hurricane Sandy is still being assessed; roughly 80,000 buildings have been evaluated for structural integrity, and the soundness of the structures is disclosed using different colored tags: green for stable, yellow for restricted and red for unsound. As one might imagine, red signs are indicators that the home or building might need to be demolished, although a red notice isn’t necessarily a guarantee that either the city or the owner must raze the building.

Unsound structures are sometimes so fragile that they are a danger to surrounding properties. These have been pulled away from their foundations; sometimes having been lifted clean off of the ground and dropped several yards away. They list to one side and threaten to topple over at any time. Desperate homeowners are faced with the choice of demolishing the house outright, or hiring an engineer to design plans that might save them; pending approval from the city.

Many blocks of homes in neighborhoods in Queens, NY were thoroughly destroyed, not only by the force of the hurricane, but by the electrical fires that raged on the night of the storm. Many homes were reduced to piles of rubble that couldn’t even support the inspector’s signs, and it is difficult to determine what the home addresses even are amidst all of the rubble.

Julian Omidi is cofounder of the charitable organizations No More Poverty and Animal Support with his brother, Dr. Julian Omidi. In the following article, Julian Omidi discusses the extent of the damage caused by Hurricane Sandy, and the city of New York’s efforts to evaluate the individual structures.