Coney Island’s United Community Church (Photo by Matthew Taub via Brooklyn Brief)
New York City’s Build it Back program may finally be making headway in helping homeowners devastated by Hurricane Sandy two years ago, and federal dollars are helping as well. But houses of worship which took a hit during the storm are being left behind, and now politicians and religious leaders are speaking out.
In Brooklyn Brief, Matthew Taub writes about a press conference on Oct. 29 at which Rep. Hakeem Jeffries urged financial institutions to step into the breach in Brooklyn.
“Over the last two years, businesses and homeowners have received direct assistance from either the city, the state, or the federal government to help get back up on their feet. But houses of worship–churches, synagogues, mosques–remain in many instances in the same condition they were in the day after the storm struck,” said Congressman Hakeem Jeffries. “At the Federal level, unfortunately, we are prohibited from providing direct financial assistance to houses of worship because of the separation of church and state doctrine.”
Last year, Jeffries co-sponsored legislation that would have authorized the federal government to provide disaster relief (in the form of grants) to houses of worship. While the measure passed in the House, the Senate did not take it up.
Now Jeffries has asked financial institutions to help through the Community Reinvestment Act. Many houses of worship will remain unusable, Jeffries wrote to CEOs of major banking institutions, if they fail to receive such assistance.
Coney Island’s United Community Baptist Church, which was flooded by Hurricane Sandy, is a case in point. Rev. Connis Mobley spoke about the church’s condition:
“We have a church without walls,” Mobley said. “I’ve lost a total of 90 families since Hurricane Sandy–that’s huge. And I’m still losing, because I don’t have a place for them to gather.”
Read why Jeffries believes banks have a special responsibility to help out in Brooklyn Brief.