TRENTON –

New Jersey will receive nearly $882 million in the final significant round of aid from the federal government for superstorm Sandy relief. An announcement by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development is expected today.

The new money will bring the total of New Jersey aid over the three rounds of funding to $4.2 billion, less than half the allocation to New York, though the federal government still has about $1.1 billion left to distribute. No plan has been announced for how that remaining money will be used.

U.S. Rep. Chris Smith, R-N.J., in a statement Wednesday, said the new tranche "will provide the state with the resources needed to clear the RREM wait list and assist Sandy-affected renters, allowing these families to finally return to their homes."

RREM is the acronym for the Reconstruction, Rehabilitation, Elevation and Mitigation Program, which has issued 1,400 reimbursement checks and started construction on more than 550 homes. The program provides up to $150,000 in grant funding assistance to eligible homeowners.

At a town hall in Stafford on Wednesday, Gov. Chris Christie said the influx of money will mean progress for the remaining 3,000 people on the RREM wait list for the program, with an emphasis on mitigation efforts to comply with requirements for structures located in flood plains.

Despite the incoming money from the federal government, Christie told his audience the job of recovering from Sandy is not finished.

"We still have more work to do,'' Christie said. "It's not about getting back to normal, it's about getting to a new normal.''

Smith said New Jersey deserves extra attention when leftover money is distributed in the future.

"Even with this third tranche of funding, New Jersey still faces significant unmet infrastructure and economic development needs. It is my hope that HUD will take this into consideration in allocating the nearly $1 billion in remaining Sandy supplemental funds," he said.

The $50 billion aid package approved by Congress in 2013 set aside $16 billion in Community Development Block Grants, but that was amended to $15.2 billion in federal spending cuts.

The October 2012 storm was blamed for 182 deaths in the U.S. and caused $65 billion in damages.

Bob Jordan: 609-984-4343, bjordan@app.com

This article was originally printed on May 9, 2014 at:
 
http://www.app.com/story/news/local/new-jersey/2014/05/28/sandy-aid-nj/9699853/