A Connecticut Republican has proposed de-funding a successful program that has helped more than 1,000 Connecticut families repair their homes after their foundations began to crumble as a result of a natural mineral.
For a decade now, crumbling foundations have roiled dozens of communities in north-central Connecticut. More than 2,000 families have watched their most important investments fall apart due to the presence of a mineral in their concrete.
A bipartisan coalition of lawmakers spanning a number of towns and districts have championed fixing this problem, with Connecticut investing more than $200 million into a program meant to fix these homes. More than 1,000 have been fully repaired to date, returning families to their homes and structures to municipal tax rolls, avoiding horror that could have led them to abandon properties and leave for other locations.
The program is funded in part by the state’s Healthy Homes Fund, which provides aid to impacted homeowners, and collects a $12 annual surcharge to raise an additional $11 million per year to support these efforts. In the face of fixing this long-standing issue, which has created 250 construction jobs statewide, fixed more than 90% of tax abatement in communities and has another thousand-plus homeowners getting work underway, a Connecticut legislator has introduced legislation to… end the Happy Homes Fund.
Two bills from a Senate Republican would either make the $12 surcharge voluntary or end it entirely. In an interview with CT Insider, the legislator said he felt it was unfair that people who own multiple properties would pay more than other residents and that some residents in the state do not benefit from the program.
According to comments made by Michael Maglaras, the superintendent of the Connecticut Foundation Solutions Indemnity Company, at a Feb. 6 informational hearing in addition to providing home repairs for more than 1,000 homes and planned repairs for another thousand, the CFSIC’s work has fixed 92% of tax abatement issues in communities, where a home’s value is slashed in town assessment records, reducing municipal revenue and impacting tax rolls. It has also created 250 construction jobs across the state and raised national attention for its success in delivering an effective public-private partnership for a unique problem.
As the Department of Housing reports that repairing a foundation can cost between $100,000 and $250,000, the program covering that cost represents millions of dollars impacted homeowners can bring back into the Connecticut economy.
Sen. Saud Anwar, a South Windsor Democrat and member of the Crumbling Foundations Caucus, said crumbling foundations had impacted thousands of homeowners across north-central Connecticut without regard for a resident’s political affiliation.
“We have a collective responsibility in our state to support every resident, not just some, especially in the event of disaster,” Anwar said. “These bills would harm homeowners, municipalities, tax collection and our communities as a whole. Short-sighted, selfish policies that provide a whopping $12 in savings to homeowners in exchange for allowing countless people to continue to suffer without support should not receive an ounce of consideration. I’m disappointed that they were even considered, much less submitted, in this legislative session.”
