Thousands of New Yorkers have been directly impacted by Superstorm Sandy, Hurricane Irene or Tropical Storm Lee. The devastation wrought by these storms was unlike anything New York has seen in recent history. While FEMA, the State of New York and other disaster relief agencies stepped in immediately following the storm to provide public and private recovery assistance to homeowners in need of help, the State worked to secure Congressional approval of additional federal aid to meet the substantial need. The program outlined here is subject to federal approval.

The State of New York, local governments and its partners are now accepting registrations for housing and small business assistance for residents located in disaster-declared counties. These registrations will be used to determine potential program eligibility for each registrant. Following your registration, a member of the NYS Sandy Help Team will contact you to review your eligibility and assist in the application process.

Also, the State of New York Superstorm Sandy Small Business Recovery Program was established to primarily support independently owned and operated businesses that have fewer than 100 employees and are located in the counties designated as disaster areas as a result of Superstorm Sandy, Hurricane Irene or Tropical Storm Lee (excluding NYC counties). To be eligible for funding, the business must have experienced direct damage and/or economic hardship as a result of the storm.

After completing the pre-application, you will be contacted to complete the application process for small business loans, grants and/or business consulting. Funding from these programs will not be distributed by the federal government and made available to the State of New York and its partners until federal agencies have approved the programs discussed in this document.

For more info, go to http://nysandyhelp.ny.gov/