Chris Christie in his infinite wisdom formed the Homeowner Reconstruction, Rehabilitation, Elevation and
Mitigation (RREM) Program to help NJ residents rebuild after Hurricane Sandy. His plan is to help rebuild NJ through a grant program, up to $150,000, for each homeowner that lost their home.
Sounds like a great idea, that is until you look at what the small home builder must do to qualify. There is a ton of red tape to wade through but the worst thing in the RREM is that every builder must post a minimum of a $1,000,000 bond in order to build a house for a qualified homeowner.
That a 1 with 6 zeros. How many small builders, especially modular home builders can come up with that kind of bond. The bond can get bigger quickly. The bond required is $1,000,000 or the amount of all the houses the contractor will build for people in the RREM program, whichever is larger. If a modular home builder has 10 contracts for $500,000 each over the next 6 months, the bond will jump to $5,000,000!
At this rate only the Ryan’s, Toll Brothers and other large regional builders will be using the RREM program.
I love Gov. Christie and hope he runs for President in the next election but I hope he understands that small business is the key to our country’s health and future.
CLICK HERE to read about the RREM program
