Engagement with Additional Federal Agencies | Congressman Joe Courtney
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Engagement with Additional Federal Agencies

Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA)

My office frequently receives questions about the feasibility of FEMA disaster declaration for the crumbling foundations crisis, and whether FEMA could provide assistance to homeowners. Under the Stafford Act (which establishes the procedure for disaster declarations, and which can only be triggered by the governor), former Governor Malloy submitted two requests for a preliminary disaster determination for crumbling foundations and both weredenied on the grounds that crumbling foundations do not fit within the definition of natural disaster, terrorist event, or explosion. This issue, however, is still being actively investigated by the Army Corps of Engineers, and there was a briefing held on October 19th, 2018 at the state armory that provided an update regarding their scientific analysis of pyrrhotite. There was no change in FEMA designation reported at that briefing, but the FEMA disaster option is still being investigated, and the attention from the Army Corps demonstrates that federal stakeholders from a number of agencies are taking this issue seriously. I was at this briefing, along with my staff, and we are closely following the state's efforts on this front.

It is important to note that homeowners, businesses, and non-profit organizations in Hartford, New Haven, Fairfield, Litchfield, and Middlesex counties affected by the storms and tornadoesofMay 2018 are only eligible for low-interest Small Business Administration (SBA) loans for property reconstruction. These counties were denied a FEMA disaster declaration twice despite the magnitude of damage from the storms. Again, the only assistance they were able to receive was in the form of loans, through the SBA, not FEMA.

An article published by the Hartford Courant on this issue is available here.

U.S. Department of Agriculture

I have also received notification that the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is willing to extend a low-interest loan program to help USDA mortgage holders -an opportunity to obtain resources for home repairs. After requesting information from USDA for several months, they confirmed in a letter to me that their customer service representatives would work closely with homeowners with USDA mortgages to discuss possible service options, as well as loans for home repairs that may be available through USDA programs. To read the letter from USDA, please click here. To contact the USDA Customer Service Center, you can call 1-413-253-4300.

Department of Housing and Urban Development

In August 2016, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) confirmed to me that the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) program as well as the HOME Investment Partnerships program could be used for testing and remediation of homes with crumbling foundations. Connecticut already receives funding through this program annually to support housing initiatives across the state, and some of the funding could be targeted to support our region's response. While the State of Connecticut is using a small portion of its federal CDBG funding for crumbling foundations response, I continue to believe that more can be done to better utilize the funding and authority available to the state under federal law. To this end, I wrote several letters to the Connecticut Department of Housing, raising concerns that the Connecticut Department of Housing has used only $250,000 out of the $1 million in CDBG funding that the state set aside for crumbling foundations. In response to my concerns, the agency re-opened the CDBG crumbling foundation application process, allowing the towns of Vernon, Stafford, and Ellington to now pursue additional funding for CDBG crumbling foundations testing reimbursement. I am continuing to work with towns to make sure that they can take advantage of every funding opportunity, and have met with HUD Regional Administrator David Tille, HUD Secretary Ben Carson, and have attended hearings on efforts to secure CDBG funding through HUD. Also, by working with HUD, I verified that HUD Section 108 funding is another possible funding source to assist homeowners with crumbling foundations.