Sandy Survey: Hardest-hit Residents Still Need Help
TRENTON, NJ (CBS) – One year after Superstorm Sandy, a new Monmouth University poll is out on recovery.
The poll, which surveyed residents displaced by the storm for at least one month, reveals that few of those families feel they're close to a full recovery and most of them feel the state's rebuilding efforts have overlooked them.
Only 10% of those hardest hit by Sandy say they are fully recovered, and only 18% are back in their homes. Three-percent remain displaced.
The results are in direct contrast to those found in a statewide September poll conducted by Monmouth University. In that poll, 76% of New Jersey residents alleged full recovery.
Furthermore, 31% of those surveyed in the most recent poll say recovery will take more than another year, and 16% say they'll never fully recover. Only 25% feel the state's recovery efforts have focused on them.
"The Sandy recovery effort is certainly a tale of two states. New Jerseyans who were displaced by the storm, even if they are now back in their homes, are significantly more negative than other Garden State residents about the pace and focus of recovery," said Patrick Murray, director of the Monmouth University Polling Institute, which is conducting the ongoing study under a grant from the New Jersey Recovery Fund.
Forty-two-percent also say they still need help replacing furniture and appliances and 26% need help paying rent. Twenty-three-percent also say they need help keeping up with their mortgage payments.
And impacted residents making less than $50,000 – the lowest income level of those surveyed – are about 9 to 18 percent more likely than other residents to still need help.
For more info, visit: www.monmouth.edu/polling
