N.J. Sandy contractor HGI ousted over performance

A high-ranking New Jersey official has acknowledged for the first time that performance problems are the reason a contractor hired last year to handle applications for the state’s biggest post-Sandy housing recovery program is no longer working for the state.

Community Affairs Commissioner Richard Constable fielded questions from lawmakers Monday about Hammerman and Gainer.

The New Orleans-based firm stopped doing work for the state in December, though state officials did not say it had been dropped for nearly two months.

Constable told a state Senate committee that he could not get into specifics about the firm because of possible litigation. He says state employees and other contractors are now doing the work the firm was hired to do.