Clawback Forgiveness for many…Finally.

Families who had clawbacks are being told they no longer owe some or all of that money back!  

After 13 years and relentless work on our part, many families have been able to close the chapter on Superstorm Sandy. After many years of pushing by many NJ Elected officials, finally Congressman Pallone’s office worked hard with The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to release new guidance that allows the state to waive disaster aid clawbacks for low and moderate income Sandy survivors, as well as individuals facing foreclosure, bankruptcy or who lost a loved one. 

Those who faced foreclosure, bankruptcy or lost a loved one received full forgiveness. Those who are low to moderate income and owed less than $27,000 also received full forgiveness. Many NJOP members who might not qualify under this guidance have worked with the Disaster Recovery & Mitigation (DRM) to lower their amount of funds being clawbacked or forgiven.

$627,000 – the dollar amount of Superstorm Sandy clawbacks that 23 of members have reported as forgiven (these are folks comfortable sharing the deets!) 

By our estimate, the approximate total amount of clawback forgiveness is $16,356,521 – We arrived at this number by multiplying the average amount our members had forgiven by the number of clawbacks forgiven. Based on our data above, it’s an average of $27,261 per family, and the DCA says around 600 families have had the clawbacks forgiven.  

Sandy survivors who have not received a forgiveness letter are encouraged to contact DCA at [email protected] and go through their receipts once again just in case something was missed or changed.

When we fight, we win.  And when we don’t give up, we win.  Congratulations to all of us who stood up for clawback forgiveness and pushed our federal and state elected officials to stand with us!