Brooklyn Boro

City grants Warbasse Houses $2.4 million for Sandy repairs

July 15, 2016 By Paula Katinas Brooklyn Daily Eagle
Councilmember Marl Treyger worked for several months to help the housing complex get the grant. Eagle file photo by Paula Katinas
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A Coney Island housing complex that sustained extensive damage in Superstorm Sandy nearly four years ago is getting city help in its effort to recover.

Councilmember Mark Treyger and New York City Housing Preservation and Development (HPD) Commissioner Vicki Been recently announced that Amalgamated Warbasse Houses has been awarded a $2.4 million HPD grant to fund the cost of emergency repairs and resiliency work in the wake of Superstorm Sandy.

The funds will go toward expenditures not covered by insurance benefits.

“This grant means Warbasse can continue to be home to the residents who built it, and that those residents are safe in the face of future storms,” said Treyger (D-Coney Island-Gravesend-Bensonhurst), who is chairman of the council’s Committee on Recovery and Resiliency.

“We are pleased to help fund the recovery and future resiliency of Warbasse, a long-standing coastal community that weathered Sandy and came back as strong as ever,” Been said.

The Warbasse Houses, a five-building, 2,585 unit, Mitchell-Lama housing development located on Neptune Avenue between Ocean Parkway and West 6th Street, is home to low- and moderate-income families, including seniors and the disabled.

The development suffered severe flooding damage during the Oct. 29, 2012 storm, according to Treyger, who said the complex also sustained significant electrical damage. The damage required repairs and a critical resiliency retrofit that elevated the buildings’ electrical substations above the high water mark to protect against future flooding.

Michael J. Silverman, president of Amalgamated Warbasse Houses, Inc., said he was grateful for Treyger’s help in getting the HPD grant.

“Councilmember Treyger’s leadership played an integral role during this process. His ‘let’s roll up our sleeves and figure this out’ attitude is very contagious and is an example that more of our elected officials should follow,” Silverman said.

The HPD Multifamily Storm Recovery Program, which ultimately awarded the $2.4 million grant, assists Sandy-damaged properties registered with the city’s Build It Back program.

To date, HPD has funded a variety of flood-protection strategies for hard-hit property owners, including elevating and flood-proofing critical building systems, providing energy-efficient improvements, and emergency power systems. 

Since the storm, HPD has funded recovery for 111 buildings with nearly 16,000 households in storm impacted neighborhoods across the city, Treyger said. There are 150 buildings in this program’s pipeline. The HPD multifamily program provides financial assistance to cover rehabilitation of buildings that sustained damage.

The city is also working to identify opportunities to increase resiliency against future weather events.

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