Hackensack City Manager Stephen Lo Iacono says it would take at least until Nov. 15 for workers to remove debris and make electrical and plumbing repairs to the 18-story Prospect Towers.
Lo Iacono says the city will fast track any permits the contractors need to get residents home as soon as possible.
The more than 300 residents have been staying with family or friends or at hotels at the building owner's expense.
No one was injured when a 20-foot long steel and plexiglass canopy and two floors of the three-level garage partially collapsed on July 16. A second section came down a day later, severing utility lines.
The cause remains under investigation.
(The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
