State to Assist Owners of Sinking New Haven Homes

When Melanie Stengel bought her house on Beverly Road in New Haven more than 20 years ago, there were no problems. That’s changed in recent years.

“The house has been shifting. I have cracks that I can put my hand through this way in the basement foundation. I have about a wheelbarrow’s worth of dirt on my basement floor,” said Stengel.

That’s on the inside. From the outside, you can see the house is lopsided; the steps out front aren’t even, and the siding above the garage shows how much the house has shifted.

“The floors are crooked. The windows are crooked. It makes it hard to shut doors and windows,” said Stengel.

Stengel already had to redo her doors just to get them to shut. She says her heating bill has been through the roof. The problem is that her home, like others in the Westville neighborhood, was built on a filled-in pond.

“Over the years, the conditions and the soil phased some of the properties to sink,” said Erik Johnson, Executive Director of the Livable City Initiative.

The properties are now getting some state assistance. The State of Connecticut, the City of New Haven and the Greater New Haven Community Loan Fund will be working with homeowners to allocate $1.5 million dollars for repairs.

Each house will be evaluated, and the most damaged houses will be getting fixed first.

“It will be a grant. My guess is that there’ll probably be some requirements that once you get the work done you can’t sell the property the next day,” said Johnson.

For Stengel, the money is coming just in time.

“It would be wonderful. I mean it really would, because the house is just getting to be in really bad shape,” said Stengel.

The city of New Haven is planning to meet with homeowners sometime next month to give instructions on how those with sinking homes can get the state assistance.

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