Two lawmakers are proposing a bill that would authorize towns with crumbling home foundations to set up loan programs and raise municipal bonds to help homeowners pay for damages.
State Sen. Tim Larson (D-East Hartford) and Sen. Cathy Osten (D-Sprague) announced the plan Friday at the Capitol in the hopes such a law could help Connecticut homeowners struggling to replace home foundations deteriorating because of the presence of the mineral pyrrhotite in the concrete.
Municipal bonds could be authorized to create a pool of funding, which affected homeowners would be able to access through an application process to fix or replace their faulty foundations, Larson said.
Homeowners who have already repaired their crumbling concrete foundations could apply for grants retroactively, as long as they can prove through receipts that work was necessary due to crumbling concrete, he said.
“People, including me, are tired of endless meetings about this issue when what they really want and need is a solution,” said Larson in a statement. “We believe this is a much bigger problem across eastern Connecticut than it appears to be on paper because only a small number of property owners have come forward, and that is largely because there hasn’t been a solution proposed that would actually help them recover from this financial devastation.”
Earlier this week, the Federal Emergency Management Agency notified the state that it won’t rule Connecticut’s crumbling home foundations a natural disaster.
