§ 20-02 Kissena Park Ida Rapid Repair Pilot Program.
RCNY § 20-02
a. Purpose. The Kissena Park Ida Rapid Repair Pilot Program ("Kissena Repair Pilot" or "KRP") provides City-managed construction assistance to owners of 1-4 family buildings, or of dwelling units therein, in a small geographic area that suffered concentrated and severe damage from Hurricane Ida. The purpose of such assistance is to ensure all dwelling units in these 1-4 family buildings that suffered damage from Hurricane Ida are habitable. b. Definition. For the purposes of this section, "applicant" means an owner of a 1-4 family building, or a dwelling unit in such building, who is applying for the Kissena Repair Pilot. c. Eligibility Requirements.
1.To be eligible for the Kissena Repair Pilot, an applicant must satisfy the following criteria: A. The applicant owns a 1-4 family building, or a dwelling unit therein, located in the area of Queens bounded by 151st Street to the west, Peck Avenue to the north, Kissena Boulevard to the east, and 56th Avenue to the south. B. Such building or unit is such applicant's primary residence and was the primary residence at the time of Hurricane Ida, and is not a second home as defined in IRS Publication 936; C. Such building or unit satisfies the following additional criteria: (i) Such building or unit suffered storm-related damage as a result of Hurricane Ida; (ii) Such building or unit is not habitable due to damage sustained from Hurricane Ida; (iii) Such building or unit either (1) had not, prior to Hurricane Ida, received federal flood disaster assistance that required obtaining and maintaining flood insurance coverage on the damaged property, or, (2) if such flood insurance coverage was required, it was obtained and maintained for the damaged building or unit; (iv) Such building or unit is not the subject of a violation, stop-work order, or vacate order from the Department of Buildings or other entity that would prevent any final sign-off from the Department of Buildings that is required by law in connection with any repairs HRO has conducted; (v) Such building or unit requires less than $75,000 worth of repairs (as determined by HRO's damage assessment) in order to be made habitable; (vi) Such building or unit has no structural damage requiring an alteration or new building permit to repair; (vii) Such building has no roof damage; (viii) There are no environmental hazards present in areas of such building or unit undamaged by Hurricane Ida; and (ix) There is unrestricted access to all areas of such building or unit.
2.In the event that HRO determines that an applicant is not eligible for the Kissena Repair Pilot, HRO will issue a written letter detailing the reason for such determination. An applicant who disagrees with such determination may challenge it only by following the issue resolution procedures described in 43 RCNY § 20-05. d. Applicant Certifications. An applicant must certify to the following: 1. The applicant has provided complete, true, and accurate information on all documents submitted to HRO, including complete information regarding other disaster assistance funds received for the purpose of home reconstruction, elevation, or rehabilitation or for temporary housing, and has not misrepresented their eligibility for the KRP; 2. The applicant understands that acceptance of assistance from the KRP may require the applicant to return other assistance received from the federal government or from an insurance company, or might result in the denial of such federal assistance or of such assistance from an insurance company; 3. The applicant is a United States citizen or qualified alien, as such term is defined in 8 U.S.C. § 1641, and is not prohibited from receiving federal public benefits under the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act ("PRWORA") of 1996; 4. The applicant has full power, authority, and legal right to execute any documents necessary for HRO to provide necessary repairs on the 1-4 family building or dwelling unit for which the applicant seeks assistance pursuant to this section; 5. The applicant will sign all documents necessary to effectuate the KRP, including but not limited to a notarized repair agreement; 6. The applicant will provide an unqualified right of entry to such 1-4 family building or such unit in order for HRO, its agents and assigns, and any utility companies to perform work eligible for KRP; 7. The applicant will provide all necessary information to HRO upon request and comply with all deadlines and requests HRO may make or set; and 8. The applicant will obtain and/or maintain flood insurance for the damaged property if the damaged property is located within a 100-year floodplain or Special Flood Hazard Area designated by FEMA. e. Selection Criteria. HRO will select eligible applicants based on the order in which their requests for assistance were received; provided, however, that consistent with the purpose of the Kissena Repair Pilot described in subdivision a of this section, HRO may select an eligible applicant not in the order in which such applicant's request was received if HRO reasonably determines, based on considerations of logistics and cost-reasonableness, that such a selection would make efficient use of limited resources, materials and labor to ensure that as many homes as possible in the Kissena Park neighborhood are made habitable. f. Funding Priority. Based on the funds available for this program, the City may not be able to provide assistance pursuant to this section to all eligible applicants. In the event of a funding shortfall, HRO will cease intake for the program and prioritize completion of accepted applications currently in construction, followed by accepted applications with the smallest amount of necessary work to return their properties to habitable status. g. Scope of Assistance.
3.Where environmental hazards are identified in areas of such building or unit damaged by Hurricane Ida, a scope of work may include limited remediation efforts.
4.Where necessary, the scope of work may include providing a small refrigerator and/or hot plate per eligible dwelling unit where prior appliances were damaged or destroyed by Hurricane Ida.
5.Prior to commencement of construction, the applicant must sign a repair grant agreement acknowledging the eligible scope of work and other KRP terms and conditions.
6.Once construction pursuant to KRP is complete, HRO and/or its contractors will reinspect the building or dwelling unit to verify the scope of work was completed. Wherever possible, these re-inspections will take place with the applicant present so that any errors or issues may be raised with the contractors present.
7.In the event that construction pursuant to KRP reveals that the applicant is not eligible for assistance under the KRP pursuant to subdivision (c) of this section, HRO and/or its contractors will stop construction pursuant to KRP, leave the property in as stable and/or habitable a condition as possible, and notify the applicant. h. Compliance.
