On Wednesday, Mayor Michael Bloomberg revealed how the city will spend the first installment of federal Sandy aid that Congress and President Obama recently approved.
A total of $1.77 billion will go towards urgent housing, business and infrastructure needs in the areas most impacted by the storm.
Specifically, $720 million will be set aside for housing recovery, $185 million for business recovery and $140 million for infrastructure resiliency.
This money will be distributed through loans and grant programs as well as competitions for the most cost-effective and innovative resiliency measures and investment ideas for spurring long-term economic growth.
“We expect that most of these programs will be underway by late April or early May, said the mayor. “We’ll do everything we can to meet that timetable.”
Part of the housing money will also be used to install permanent emergency generators at public housing developments.
The city is still developing plans for approximately $750 million of the first installment.
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