Courtney Updates Vernon/Stafford/Ellington Foundation Testing

VERNON/STAFFORD/ELLINGTON, CT – U.S. Rep. Joe Courtney (CT-02) last week provided a statement at a community forum to provide homeowners who have been impacted by the crumbling concrete foundations crisis information on federal resources that have been made available through the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Community Development Block Grant program to support the testing of concrete foundations in Ellington, Stafford, and Vernon.

Although Rep. Courtney was unable to attend the he provided a statement to be read aloud to the audience by a member of his staff.

Courtney first identified the federal funds in 2016 as a possible source of crumbling foundations aid, and led efforts to ensure that state officials fully utilized the funds to support local response efforts. The federal CDBG funding was officially requested by the three towns in a joint application last year as part of Connecticut’s Small Cities Program and in March Rep. Courtney announced that the towns had received approval for $480,000 in federal CDBG funding to support the testing of concrete foundations after he engaged with the Connecticut Department of Housing.

In August, Courtney met with local officials from Stafford and Vernon to discuss ways to increase participation in the program and increase public awareness of the federally-funded resources available for crumbling foundations testing.

In his remarks, Rep. Courtney noted that although HUD specified that CDBG funds can be used for testing, there is no federal mandate requiring CDBG funds to only be solely for that purpose in regard to crumbling foundations, and encouraged the State of Connecticut to expand the use of these federal funds to provide relief to homeowners in more ways.

A transcript of his remarks as-prepared for delivery is included below:

Good evening, thank you for your attendance tonight at this important forum. I want to thank Ellington First Selectwoman Lori Spielman, Vernon Mayor and Senator Dan Champagne, and Stafford First Selectwoman Mary Mitta for all their work in publicizing this event, and to congratulate these towns for their efforts in promoting the use of federal CDBG funding identified in September 2016.

Tonight’s re-launch of the Regional Crumbling Foundations Testing Program will certainly reinvigorate the use and maximization of these funds – an important message for everyone involved in crumbling foundations work to hear. As the state continues to pursue additional resources to combat this crisis, my office will work to ensure that the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and the State Department of Housing see CDBG as a tool to help with this urgent problem.

As a refresher, the CDBG program is a federal block grant funded through the federal T-HUD appropriations bill that states can distribute to localities. It is a recurring grant that has been replenished annually going back to the beginning of the Ford Administration, in 1974. CDBG funds can be used for a multitude of purposes, including for rehabilitating and demolishing blighted properties, neighborhood economic development, housing rehabilitation or development, and housing counseling services, among other uses. It is subject to some income eligibility guidelines that are different than the State of Connecticut’s programs, but we know there are homeowners in the three town region who fall under its scope.

My office identified these federal funds more than three years ago as a possible source of crumbling foundations aid after writing to the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). In September of 2016, I received information from HUD that funds from the CDBG program may be used to assist homeowners. As a block grant to Connecticut, however, it is up to the State government to determine how much, and where the funds will be utilized. Over the last three years there has been a lot of back and forth with the State Department of Housing and my office about getting these funds moving. During that time, Connecticut has received annual CDBG funds approximating $12 to $13 million per year, for a total of $50,895,902, and only a small sliver - $730,000 (1.43%) has been allocated to crumbling foundations efforts, and only for testing programs.

In May of 2018, DOH re-opened the program and restored $500,000 for applications from eligible communities. In August of 2018, Ellington, Stafford, and Vernon seized this opportunity and held the required public meeting about their joint application for federal CDBG funds, at which I testified in support of their application.

As it relates to future CDBG funding, the 2020 fiscal year T-HUD appropriations bill passed the House on June 25th, 2019 and included $3.6 billion for CDBG – a $300 million increase from the 2019 fiscal year enacted levels. In the 2019 fiscal year, Connecticut received $13.38 million in CDBG funding, and is estimated to receive $13.5 million in the 2020 fiscal year. Clearly, there is room here for more CDBG funds to be used to help with this problem.

It is important to note that although DOH specified that CDBG funds can be used for testing, there is no federal mandate that requires CDBG funds to only be used for that purpose for crumbling foundations. In this vein, my hope is that the State of Connecticut decides to expand the use of these funds outside of just testing. I will continue to work to ensure that state and town officials are fully utilizing the funds available to help with the crumbling foundations crisis. Thank you to all the towns represented here for your efforts to utilize this federal opportunity and I look forward to continuing that partnership.