Saud Anwar

Senators Anwar, Osten Support Signing of Bill Intended to Fight Scourge of Crumbling Foundations

State Senator Saud Anwar joins a coalition of political and regional leaders as Governor Ned Lamont signs legislation fighting crumbling foundations into law.

HARTFORD, CT – Today, State Senators Saud Anwar (D-South Windsor) and Cathy Osten (D-Sprague) joined Governor Ned Lamont to support the signing of legislation designed to fight the scourge of crumbling foundations impacting numerous homeowners throughout the state. The legislation in question will establish a grant program to study the possibility of reducing the cost of repairing and replacing crumbling foundations; establish a board for oversight of those applications; create a low-interest loan program for property owners with crumbling foundations who reach maximum financial assistance; and modify definitions of surcharges and terms intended to support new knowledge of crumbling foundations.

“Far too many homeowners in our state know the unfortunate struggles of dealing with crumbling foundations in their homes,” said Sen. Anwar. “With today’s signing by the Governor, we let them know we hear them and are working as hard as we can to help them. By establishing a grant program to study best ways to reduce the cost of repairing foundations, we will try to find new solutions to help homeowners, as the extreme costs those repairs currently represent a significant financial barrier to resuming a normal life. The loan program provides new opportunities for homeowners to lessen the financial struggle of repairing their homes, which sometimes represent their life’s savings. Additionally, by modifying language and terms of existing legislation, including expanding the definition of ‘residential building’ to include additional structures, this legislation supports more property owners who until now could not receive relief for their homes. I laud this important step forward for the state.”

“The issue of crumbing foundations is going to be with Connecticut and its residents for a long time to come, so the legislature needs to continually fine-tune our public policies to help as many people as possible. That’s what we did today,” said state Sen. Cathy Osten (D-Sprague), whose Senate District includes the towns of Hebron and Columbia.

Legislation enacted Tuesday will establish a grant program supporting the development of methods and technologies intended to reduce the average cost of repairing and replacing concrete foundations that have deteriorated due to the presence of pyrrhotite, a chemical that causes erosion of concrete if exposed to oxygen. It’s hoped that the legislation can drastically lower the cost of these repairs, which can rise to more than $100,000 for a single home. Additionally, the legislation appropriates $8 million to fund grants awarded by an innovation board.

Further, it creates a low-interest loan program for property owners who have already received the maximum amount of financial assistance they can receive for home repairs through established programs. This loan program will limit further financial strain for them in an already difficult time.

The legislation also makes modifications to the Healthy Homes surcharge, a $12 charge on certain home insurance policies intended to assist homeowners with crumbling foundations, and expands the definition of “residential building” to include structures previously not covered by relief programs.

These changes go further to support families and homeowners negatively impacted by the continuing crisis of crumbling foundations, a crisis that has harmed a number of families in many regions of Connecticut, primarily the northern and eastern regions.