However, in Woodbridge, New Jersey, the state has bought and torn down 145 homes since 2013 and returned the land to nature, with eight homes demolished this month alone. Earlier this month, Patricia Kambach, 80, went inside rather than watch a crew demolish her longtime neighbor’s home. Kambach has lived in her house on Lewis Street since former US president John F. Kennedy was in office. “We need the same success and program along the shore to get people and their properties out of harm’s way,” he said. In places like Woodbridge, the Blue Acres program has thrown a lifeline to people who might have trouble selling their homes otherwise.
