Funding

State lawmakers sent dozens of bills to Gov. Maura Healey in the final hours before the new year, but notably, that did not include one bill that dozens of homeowners were counting on. For the second time in the last few months, a plan to help homeowners dealing with faulty concrete crumbled on Beacon Hill.Now they want to know why.It’s a new year, but this group of Massachusetts homeowners is facing the same old problem: getting the state to help them piece their lives back together. The homeowners have all found themselves with cracking and crumbling basements, but haven’t had any luck convincing the state to find a way to help financially.”Someone asked me one time, how long are you going to ? I’m going to do this until Massachusetts does the right thing,” said Karen Riani, who, along with her husband Rick, drained their savings and retirement accounts to replace the foundation of their Holden home in 2021. The cost was $280,000, 80% of their original purchase price.Several homeowners gathered at the Riani home this week to discuss their path forward now that a new legislative session has begun on Beacon Hill.Among them was Jeff Haynes, who spent a quarter of a million dollars to replace his basement in Rutland last spring.”The scope of the project was $250,000, and that meant basically raiding retirement money,” Haynes said.Once his concrete started crumbling, he says it went downhill fast.It happened because of pyrrhotite, a naturally occurring mineral found under much of central and western Massachusetts. When pyrrhotite makes its way into the concrete mix, the concrete fails prematurely. The only fix is to jack up a home, rip out the existing foundation, and pour a new one. But that comes with a crushing cost.Homeowners’ insurance won’t cover foundation repairs, and banks won’t issue a loan for the work since the home’s value also crumbles. That leaves homeowners with their backs against the wall.”You are chained to a worthless home,” Haynes said.For years, these homeowners have pleaded with the state for help, demonstrating outside the State House, visiting the governor’s office, and inviting lawmakers to see the problem firsthand. But it hasn’t paid off.The state passed a measure requiring quarries to start testing their product for pyrrhotite, which should have started last summer but has been delayed until later this year. Homeowners have also been pushing for a state-run fund to help pay for repairs. They don’t want tax money, but instead believe a solid foundation is to do what Connecticut facing the same problem did years ago: impose a one-dollar-per-month surcharge on homeowners insurance policies that go into the fund.A plan to start that process passed the State Senate twice last year but got stripped out of a housing bill behind closed doors over the summer and died in the House of Representatives just before the end of session on Dec. 30.”This is a Massachusetts crisis,” said Karen Riani. “Ignoring the crisis and not taking any action doesn’t solve the problem. And it doesn’t go away.””I guess you just pick up and keep going because we have no other option,” said Michelle Loglisci, a homeowner who started the group Massachusetts Residents Against Crumbling Concrete after discovering pyrrhotite in her Monson home. She hasn’t yet ripped out her foundation because she needs the money in her retirement account to live on. “All we can say is that the House leadership decided that this was not an important issue to them,” said state Sen. Peter Durant (R, Worcester, and Hampshire), who represents numerous communities facing this issue and has sponsored bills establishing a fund. “Would I mind paying $12 a year to help out homeowners who are dealing with what really amounts to a natural disaster? We spend $12 a year on much less important things.”Durant said he plans to try again by attaching the establishment of a fund to this year’s budget. He also has a message for House leadership.”Look these people in the eye. Go to their homes. Look at what’s happening in their basements,” he said.”You have to have hope. You have to keep pushing on,” Karen Riani said. NewsCenter 5 reached out to both House Speaker Ron Mariano and Ways and Means Chair Aaron Michlewitz for this story. Michlewitz did not respond. A spokesperson for the speaker issued a brief statement: “The House will review any bill related to the crumbling concrete issue that’s filed this session.”