Low Income Renters Of Coney And Brighton Hit Hardest By Sandy

While Superstorm Sandy hit everyone in Southern Brooklyn hard, perhaps no one was hit harder than low-income renters in Coney Island and Brighton Beach, according to a report published by the New York Daily News.

Residents in Coney and Brighton filed more requests for federal aid after Sandy than any other neighborhood in the city. In numbers tabulated by Enterprise Community Partners, a national affordable housing organization, 14,649 people requested aid in Brighton Beach compared to 12,764 in Coney Island.

According to the report, 69 percent of the people requesting aid were earning less than $30,000, illuminating the overwhelming financial burden Sandy has imposed on those who could afford it least.

“Much of the reporting on Sandy victims has focused on homeowners. Yet, 55 percent of the surge victims in New York were very low-income renters, whose incomes are $18,000 a year on average,” said Max Weselcouch of the Furman Center for Real Estate and Urban Policy. “These households were vulnerable before the storm, and programs to assist them will need to take their need for affordable housing into account in order for them to fully recover from the storm’s damage.”