New Haven state legislators announced today the imminent approval of funding to provide relief to homeowners with sinking homes in New Haven.
When it meets on Friday, April 13, the State Bond Commission is expected approve $1 million in Department of Economic and Community Development grants-in-aid to homeowners with homes located in the immediate vicinity of the West River in the Westville section of New Haven and Woodbridge for structurally damaged homes due to subsidence, gradual settling or sudden sinking of land. Funding will also be available to homeowners with homes abutting the Yale golf course in Westville for damage to homes from water infiltration or structural damage due to subsidence.
“I’m very excited that we can work together with the administration to help New Haven homeowners,” said Representative Patricia Dillon (D-New Haven).
“This critical funding will help homeowners make urgent repairs to their homes,” said Senate President Martin M. Looney (D-New Haven). “I want to thank the Governor for his support of this important initiative and commend Representative Dillion for her leadership, hard work and dogged determination on behalf of the neighborhood.”
According to a 2013 Office of Legislative Research report on the causes of land subsidence
A number of properties located on Beverly Road in New Haven have experienced structural damage—such as foundation cracks—from the land shifting or sinking. An engineering report prepared for the city explained that the area is over a filled-in “ice pond”. It concluded that the probable cause of settlement is due to the differing densities of the fill materials and the consolidation of the organic matter and peat over time, with groundwater a contributing factor to the biodegradation of the organic material.