Courtney praises decade of work on Connecticuts crumbling foundations, urges continued federal support

Congressman Joe Courtney, speaking from his Washington, D.C., office, told attendees at an Ellington event that the region has made "a lot of progress" addressing the problem commonly called crumbling foundations but that more federal help and research are still needed.

"Wish I was at Ellington High School this evening, but, unfortunately, we have a scheduled conflict down here with votes this week," Courtney said, opening his remote remarks and thanking organizers including Matt Hart and Pauline Yoder of the Capital Region Council of Governments and local volunteer Lori Spielman. He credited grassroots groups and local advocates with pressuring state officials to act and pushing for programmatic help.

Courtney marked roughly a decade since investigative reporting first documented what he described as a systemic problem caused by pyrrhotite in aggregate from a quarry, and he praised the reporting for exposing the scope of the damage. He said the states foundation-replacement effort and subsequent programs have provided substantial relief to homeowners.

He singled out state program leadership for praise and noted the state program that replaces defective foundations has been the "workhorse" in delivering resources. "We have come a long way," Courtney said, adding that the program is "fast approaching the 1,000 mark in terms of homes that have gotten help through," a benchmark he described as evidence of progress.

Courtney described federal efforts to expand research and testing, and he said his office helped secure a $2,000,000 appropriation in 2022 to help homeowners cover costs not paid by the state program. "We, in 2022, with Craig's help, got a $2,000,000 appropriation to help homeowners with some of the non [state-program]-covered costs that are associated with foundation replacement," he said.

He also said a temporary favorable tax treatment that previously helped homeowners may present another avenue for relief. Courtney noted that some 2017 tax-code provisions are expiring in 2025 and that could create "a real opportunity" to pursue reinstatement of a property-casualty-loss tax benefit backed by the IRS in 2017.

Courtney closed by reiterating that the progress to date has been driven by homeowners and local advocates rather than large political interests, and by offering assistance from his office to constituents seeking information about federal resources. "The bottom line is, though, that all of this success could never have happened if it was not for the incredible work of homeowners, and advocates in the community at the grassroots level," he said.

He told attendees he looked forward to continuing to work with partners to reach every homeowner affected around the state.