In a city of eight-and-a-half million people, every inch of living space matters. But for a Queens man, it's no game of inches: The city has dramatically downsized his backyard to make way for a street widening project that likely will never take place. NY1's Amanda Farinacci reports:

Church Road is a narrow, one way street in Broad Channel.

In a community devastated by Hurricane Sandy, just two homeowners there enrolled in the city's storm recovery program, Build It Back, to protect their houses from any future flooding.

Nicholas Pierro is one of them, and he's furious.

"It's a nightmare, I've been living a nightmare," he says.

Build It Back contractors have been working on his home since December of 2016, a never-ending renovation that's forced Pierro to move in with his parents in Howard Beach.

What's made him even angrier is that as part of the renovation, the city moved his entire house further back from the street, dramatically shrinking his backyard. 

"My house is now set back ten feet against my wishes," Pierro says. "When they told me they were going to push my house back, I didn't want that done because it would take ten feet away from my backyard, and they said on the books, in the city, there's a plan to widen Church Road."

Community leaders tell NY1 that in more than 50 years of civic association meetings, the idea of enlarging Church Road has not been discussed.

The city Transportation Department admits there are no immediate plans to make the street wider. But the department says it's reserving the right to do so in the future, and that's why Pierro's house was moved.

"The plans were drawn up before I was born, and after I'm dead, Church Road is going to be the same width. It's never going to be widened," Pierro says.

Pierro's only neighbor in the Build It Back program also had his house moved, shrinking his backyard, too.

If the city ever widens Church Road, it would have to move all the other homes on the block as well.

Which means it is hard to imagine the city ever going ahead with the street widening, given the cost and all of the more pressing priorities facing City Hall.

Pierro say he was recently told that work on his home should be finished around June. He is skeptical about that deadline.

Still, no matter when he comes back home, he'll return to 10 feet less of his backyard.