NEW YORK — Every few weeks, Jennifer Denora visits the home she hasn't lived in since Hurricane Sandy, eight years ago.
Denora checks the work by contractors for the city's storm recovery program, Build It Back, to make sure it's being done right — because many times, she says, it is not.
"It looks like they tried to fix it. They cut some things wrong, but they filled it in," she told NY1.
The home is one of just 19 storm-damaged houses that remain in the program. Build It Back says the homes are still under construction, or awaiting final approvals to allow residents to return.
Denora has been waiting a long time. Sandy swallowed the home in 17 feet of water, making it uninhabitable.
It took years before Build It Back began construction because the city wanted to make her new home smaller that the one Denora had before.
The home was eventually demolished and completely rebuilt four years ago. Since then, it's been delay after delay.
"There's a lot of adjustments and changes and there's a lot of communication issues along the way, so that had a ripple effect," Denora. "But in the end, I am in the end thankful."
Thankful, but also frustrated. Her rebuilt home has been vandalized at least three times.
She's spent tens of thousands of dollars on home inspectors, lawyers, and repair work — and she's lost even more in time.
Her family has relocated so long that her children, toddlers when Sandy roared through, do not remember living at the old home.
"I think we just kind of got used to it, waiting, waiting, waiting," Denora said.
Denora has been keeping track of things that still need to be fixed before she moves home.
She says what's most alarming is something that happened this summer, after Tropical Storm Isaias. The powerful winds of the storm lifted up a portion of the newly installed roof. Contractors came to fix it the next day, but the incident left her rattled.
She's hoping to finally move home in November.
But she says concerns about the safety of her home — and dealing with the city on warranties and workmanship — leave her wondering how long she'll be able to stay here, a place she hasn't called home since that stormy night eight years ago.
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