This past Wednesday, August 9th, Assemblywoman Stacey Pheffer Amato (D-Howard Beach) hosted the first of a series of consultation sessions at her Howard Beach office for Howard Beach residents with representatives from Neighborhood Housing Services of Queens, Inc., and the Governor’s Office of Storm Recovery. The GOSR has helped to fund FloodHelpNY.org as a citywide resource for flood risk. By appointment, residents met, free of charge, with a flood readiness consultant, who took details of their housing situation and processed their intake. The FloodHelpNY program ultimately gives participants a framework within which to plan the feasibility and expense of preparing their properties for the next major storm. Some participants then qualify to receive free elevation certificates and a free follow-up in-home flood resiliency audit by an engineer, coordinated by the nonprofit Center for NYC Neighborhoods.

“There are few better services I think we can provide the people of my district,” said Pheffer Amato. “We’re just now recovering from Sandy, which was five years ago – unfortunately, the question with the next big one is not if, but when. The best investments New Yorkers and their government can make are on the front end; we’ve all seen how imperfect cleanup efforts for a huge natural disaster can be on the back end. So we need to be investing in readiness, down to the individual house. I appreciate the work of this pilot program, and I think it should be expanded quickly and everywhere.”

“We are excited to be working closely with the Assemblymember’s office to bring services and information about making homes safer from flooding to communities in Howard Beach,” said Rachel Eve Stein, Deputy Director of Recovery and Resiliency at the Center for NYC Neighborhoods, a non-profit organization that promotes and protects affordable homeownership. “Homeowners can access free services through FloodHelpNY.org, where they can learn about their flood risk and find out if they are eligible for a flood assessment of their home. This is just one of the ways we can help to make our coastal communities more resilient in the face of future extreme weather.”