Separate from the Superstorm relief package sandy impacted homeowners can head to Toms River Town Hall next week to find out if they're eligible for FEMA home-elevation grants.

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Director of housing mitigation services for consulting firm Witt O'Brien's, Kelly George explains that while the flood mitigation assistance may seem similar to a super-storm relief package, it's not tied to any particular disaster.

"To be eligible for this money, the structure has to be insured by the National Flood Insurance Program," said George.

There's only certain structures they're looking for in this program.

"There ones that FEMA has designated as repetitive loss or severe repetitive loss," said George. "Those are your multi-loss ones, typically a short period of time structures because they have the greatest drain on the National Flood Insurance Fund."

The program is aimed at helping property owners elevate their home with financial aid.

"This is a way FEMA has to give communities an opportunity for funding to help target those structures to get them off the books and get them mitigated so it reduces their future damages," said George.

They only have room for 15-structures in the current allotment of federal funding, but she says they'll re-run this program again when more funds are provided.

"This is going to be a multi-year, multi-phase in Toms River because just like with any other federal grant program there's never going to be enough money at one time to do everything you need to do," said George.

She also explains some of the criteria needed to apply for a grant.

"The structure still needs to be mitigated," said George. "It can't have already been elevated or acquired and demolished."

They also need to know how far below the base flood elevation the structure is currently at.
To learn if you're eligible for the grants, info meetings take place Monday and Wednesday at 6 pm and Tuesday at 10 am. If you can't make it out, George explains that they'll post the info online afterwards.

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