CT Crumbling Foundation Relief Efforts Get $10 Million Boost

HARTFORD/TOLLAND COUNTIES, CT — State efforts to offer aid to those affected by the crumbling foundations crisis in Connecticut were given a boost to the tune of $10 million this week.

Officials for the Connecticut Foundations Solutions Indemnity Company announced they have received $10,580,617 in Healthy Homes surcharge funds. Officials for the captive insurance company said the funds were allocated about three weeks earlier than received in years prior, allowing them to "immediately address the Participation Agreements for homeowners who have been waiting since March of 2020."

This announcement came days after the Connecticut House of Representatives passed HB 6646, which, according to one legislator heavily involved in the rebuilding efforts, "builds upon many years of progress to assist individuals, families and communities - including Manchester - who have been impacted by the crumbling concrete crisis."

State Rep. Geoff Luxenberg, a member and founder of the bipartisan Crumbling Foundations Caucus, applauded the CFSIC for "quick action in assisting homeowners in need."

Luxenberg said, "Passing this legislation and securing these funds ahead of schedule for CFSIC to distribute makes a direct impact on all Manchester and Connecticut residents, not just those with crumbling foundations. CFSIC can now get to work and do what they were created to do, assist the hundreds of families in Manchester and thousands throughout Connecticut that have been devastated by crumbling foundations."

In previous sessions, the General Assembly passed legislation that created the Connecticut Foundations Solutions Indemnity Company, which serves as the captive insurance company to process and pay out claims.

The bill passed last week "recognizes the need in maintaining the CFSIC in order to continue addressing this ongoing issue," Luxenberg said.

Healthy Homes surcharge imposes a $12 fee on the "named insured" under certain homeowners insurance policies issued over an 11-year period and authorizes the state insurance commissioner to adopt implementing regulations. Revenue from the surcharge is deposited into the Healthy Homes Fund, which the act established.

Under the act, 85 percent of the surcharges collected, after subtracting an amount to cover the cost of an Insurance Department employee to facilitate collection, must be deposited into the Crumbling Foundations Assistance Fund to assist homeowners with concrete foundations damaged by the presence of pyrrhotite.

The mineral was discovered in a batch of concrete from a Stafford quarry many years ago and has led to home foundations — and even a school in Tolland — breaking apart throughout areas of north central and eastern Connecticut. Replacing a home foundation can cost more that $150,000, state officials have estimated.