There's something to keep in mind down there along the Jersey Shore, and it hasn't been on the radar screen for too many people but will eventually hit home hard when things settle down and a rebuilding effort begins. I'm pretty sure that FEMA disaster relief and post-disaster recovery funds are not going to be available for any recovery/rebuilding work involving vacation homes -- and that applies to an awful lot of real estate down there.
Personally, I think this was one of the primary reasons why Chris Christie was so adamant about getting the president up here quickly ... because there's no mechanism in place to address these particular catastrophic financial losses under current funding rules. Without a massive Federal intervention, a lot of the Jersey Shore may never recover.
Yeah, I’ve heard that second homes are not part of the FEMA scheme. I doubt, though, that the people in this FEMA tent are vacationers. Most packed up in late September or early October.
“Without a massive Federal intervention, a lot of the Jersey Shore may never recover.”
the “shore” might recover
I am not so certain that it should be taxpayers responsibility or taxpayer subsidized insurance or loans that should “recover” every single property (some on mere sand bars) that in some cases, in common sense terms, likely should have never been built where they were in the first place.
Already here in New Jersey we have started a program to buy out properties that lie in the worst flood prone section of the Passaic River. That is good government. Rebuilding everyone that knowingly sits like an annual target for Atlantic Ocean storms, just daring mother nature to just try and knock them over, is not my idea of good government.
If the taxpayers are forced to get involved, I am more in favor of buyouts than rebuilding, ultimately returning more of the shore to the natural tideland, wetland, green space barrier it was for everyone further inland, before so much development paved it over.