Gabriella Bass
Erin and Jim Joyce, along with their son James, were displaced from their home by Hurricane Sandy.
Hurricane Sandy moved them out — kind-hearted New Yorkers moved them on up.
Three Long Island families displaced by October’s hurricane have been put up in posh Upper East Side rentals ever since — for free.
The luxury 1-bedroom digs, which typically rent for $2,500 per month, have been a godsend to the families — whose lives were derailed by flood damage.
Surge waters flooded the first floor Long Beach home of Jerry Springer Show producer Lacy Edwards and her police officer husband, Brian.
When they heard through a friend that they could stay in a luxury rental for free, they were floored.
“It was unbelievable. We couldn’t pass it up and moved in right away... it really helped us a lot,” said Lacy. “There are really no words to describe how it made us feel. It’s overwhelming.”
They’re planning to rent a home in Long Beach next month so Lacy, who is expecting her third child in February, can be closer to her doctors.
“The stuff we lost were material things,” she said. “At the end of the day, it can all be replaced.”
Another two families stayed in the apartments only until recently, allowing them to get back on their feet.
That includes Erin Joyce, an accountant, who moved with her husband and 1-year-old son into a new Long Beach home one day before the storm — and were forced to evacuate from it the next day.
“We bought a house that didn’t need any work but within a couple of days it became a fixer-upper,” Joyce said.
And Antoinette Diamond and Anthony Borello lost all their possessions from their Long Beach basement rental in Sandy’s storm surge — including everything they were gathering for their upcoming wedding.
“It felt so good to take a hot shower and go to sleep in a bed,” Diamond said.
The pair recently moved in with Borello’s grandmother.
The apartments belong to the real estate investment firm Stone Street Properties, which was founded last year by Rob Morgenstern and Jeff Kaye.
“We talked about donating – money or clothes, but what we have are bricks, heat and water,” said Morgenstern. “All of a sudden that became a commodity.”
Kaye’s parents live in a Long Beach neighborhood that was ravaged by the flooding — which brought the plight of displaced families closer to home.
“It’s like a war zone out there. People’s homes were ripped to their foundations,” he said.
LI families displaced by Sandy put up in luxury apartments on Upper East Side for free
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LI families displaced by Sandy put up in luxury apartments on Upper East Side for free
