Some homeowners who were hard hit from the December storm will now be eligible for state funding to help with their recovery.

The Murphy administration set aside $10 million dedicated to elevating and or buying out properties in the Passaic River Basin, which includes parts of Essex, Passaic and Morris Counties.

Plenty others know the devastating consequences of flooding in the state two years after Tropical Storm Ida.

Many homeowners say their homes remain unlivable and their worlds have been upended.

A bill to help with mortgage forbearance just made it through the legislature.

But as senior correspondent Brenda Flanagan reports, it doesn't appear the governor is ready to sign it.

Is just telling us it's just awful.

Stefanie Hosgood says Ida flooded her family's home in Manville more than two years ago.

But it feels like she's still underwater, except now she's drowning in debt.

Making mortgage payments on a house either destroyed house good and thousands of other Ida victims hope New Jersey lawmakers soon pass a bill that would give them temporary forbearance on mortgage payments and foreclosures.

You know, our house, we couldn't afford to get it fixed at that time and it just deteriorated over the years.

So having this rare interest, something maybe to at least help us so that we can get out of the mounds and mountains of debt that we're already in due to this.

I don't have much more time like, how much longer can I go on like this?

Leanna Jones did move back into her Milford home after Ida's floodwaters subsided.

She took out a loan and maxed out her credit to fix it, but it still needs work.

She recently lost her job.

She also fears foreclosure.

You know, I went into credit card debt.

I didn't have to go into it.

If I had been able to have this mortgage forbearance or and still if I could get it, it would make a huge difference for me financially.

We're just asking to give these families just some space.

Jody Stewart's with the New Jersey organizing project.

Even though HUD approved Jersey's spending plan for $228 million in flood disaster assistance, only a fraction of that it's been disbursed, she notes.

Meanwhile, the state DEP canceled federal grants to elevate homes in high risk flood areas like Manville's Lost Valley and started offering Blue Acres buyouts instead.

Stewart says IDA victims feel betrayed and hopeless.

No one has received any funding, so they're doing it out of pocket or taking loans or using credit cards.

That mortgage payment relief will get them ahead.

Stewart says the bill S-4117 simply offers to pause mortgage payments for a year, not delete them.

It would also pause foreclosures for IDA victims who meet the financial requirements.

After watching President Biden and the governor promised assistance in September 2021.

IDA victims say relief's long overdue.

We need it like yesterday.

No, that's the problem.

The government is taking their sweet time, getting something passed.

That should be a no brainer.

Obviously, this storm happened more than two years ago, so it seems like we're on a hamster wheel trying to get this done.

Sponsor Senator Troy Singleton's expressed some frustration.

He says the bill cleared committee, but the governor's office warned Murphy would not sign it due to unspecified legal problems with the bill's language.

We're waiting for a, frankly, a written discussion from the governor's office that really highlights where they feel like we've run afoul of the constitutionality and legality of what we've written.

Singleton says he hopes the measure can be tweaked, passed and signed when the legislature reconvenes later this month.

The governor's office did not offer comment.

I honestly feel the governor's office is not paying enough attention that these are human beings.

These are families.

It's just numbers on paper.

They're not getting the voices heard because it's a different kind of a storm.

You know, it's behind closed doors.

It's not the beach front.

It's not the boardwalk.

Hardgoods family is still living with her dad.

I mean, people say, well, you know, I that was over a year ago.

You know, I feel that.

How do you go over something that destroys your lives?

Meanwhile, both she and Jones have applied for the state DEP to buy out their homes.

I'm Brenda Flanagan, NJ Spotlight News.