Westville residents in New Haven seek state aid for sinking homes

NEW HAVEN — One crack inside Cheryl Jackson’s house is visible on a wall next to a window near the main doorway. A few feet away and above, another crack lines the ceiling. A third crack is visible on a hallway wall, its tip closing in on the adjacent ceiling.

These tiny fissures are a reminder of what Cheryl and her husband, Charles, have faced for more than four years. They’re a reminder — along with the uneven stairs, the uneven driveway, and the uneven floors — that their home on Fountain Terrace is sinking.

“It’s like going down to the ground,” Cheryl Jackson said.

The sinking has left a door leading to their basement hanging at an odd angle; it no longer lines up to the top door casing. Walk through and a set of vertigo-inducing stairs leading down the basement awaits. These uneven steps recently caused Cheryl Jackson to fall and injure both wrists.

“These stairs is leaning,” Charles Jackson said.

Walking through their basement can be disorienting, which has fared far worse than the main floor.

“It’s dropped like 5 inches down going into ground,” Cheryl Jackson said. Just steps away from the dining room area, the hardwood floors are splitting. There are grooves where there should be flat surfaces.

The Jacksons don’t spend much time down there these days, despite its comfortable furnishings

“She won’t even come down here,” Charles Jackson said about his wife while standing in the basement.

There are about 60 or so residents in this neighborhood who have formally sent complaints to Alder Darryl Brackeen, D-26, who’s cataloged them along with the various issues they’ve reported. Brackeen will be the first to admit that it’s entirely possible the list is far from complete.

Brackeen has a working list detailing the various conditions. The concerns were similar: cracks in the foundation, sagging floors, stairs pulling away from homes, water flooding basements, basement leakage.

State legislators last month were able to tack on $4 million in bonding as part of the bipartisan budget passed by Gov. Dannel P. Malloy, according to state Rep. Patricia Dillon, D-New Haven. The funding will be considered for approval by the state Bond Commission. The money expands eligible homes, which Dillon said will include the Jacksons’ residence.

The money would be dispersed among residents who have damages due to “water infiltration or structural damage due to subsidence,” according to the bill’s language.

“You’re trying to stabilize a neighborhood,” Dillon said. She added, “I think it stabilizes our tax base, for one thing. ... We have privately owned homes that have been now exposed to some kind of environmental damage which did not exist when they first purchased their homes.”

Cheryl Jackson called the money crucial.

“At least, if they do it right,” Charles Jackson added.

The damage is the result of surrounding water reservoirs, which seep into the ground where the home’s foundations lie. A 2006 study from the Connecticut Academy of Science and Engineering found many homes affected by similar sinking issues had been built atop a site with an “ice pond,” but results over what caused the damage were largely inconclusive.

There are also homeowners alongside Stevenson Road who believe their flooding issues are due to Yale Golf Course, which abuts their properties. In a letter to Brackeen and Aldermanic President Tyisha Walker, D-23, the university disavowed any responsibility for flooding issues, but it did express willingness to discuss them at length.

City Engineer Giovanni Zinn said in an emailed statement these issues are “more private property focused as opposed to public City infrastructure, which is more my purview.”

“That being said we are always vigilant for larger flooding threats and continually work to repair our drainage infrastructure and make any necessary improvements,” Zinn said.

Brackeen been working closely with the Jackson and other residents on their concerns. He said the issue of sinking homes in his ward is a problem he inherited. He was notified of the possible funding last month.

“We know of residents who have these issues and they need support,” Brackeen said. “The hope is to actually fix the problem.”

By now, the Jacksons said they have poured several thousands of dollars into repairs of their home. Charles Jackson, a carpenter by trade, has stabilized columns in the basement, adding two-by-sixes to keep columns even. He’s tried retrofitting walls and filling cracks with foaming material, concrete, wood, and bricks; it’s the equivalent of using bandages on a patient needing surgery.

They’ve owned the house for 12 years, Jackson said. In February, they received an estimated repair for all the damage.

The tentative bill: $73,934.80.

“They say, don’t repair anything, but how are you not going to repair something if a wall opens up to you from the outside?” Cheryl Jackson said.

Jackson first learned about sinking homes in her neighborhood after local state legislators — including then-state senator and now Mayor Toni Harp — announced $1.5 million in state bonding for sinking homes. Dillon said the highest-damage homes were assisted first during that first round of funding.

“It really wasn’t an easy sell. It took a lot of persistence,” Dillon said.

The news prompted Cheryl Jackson to bring someone to inspect her home. Sure enough, they told her that her home was sinking. After that, she reached out to Brackeen in January 2014.

“I ain’t giving up,” Jackson said. “We almost pay $5,000 (in property) tax on this home. We owe a mortgage on it. And this is a place we’re supposed to be to stay. So why would you want to give this up?”

The funding wouldn’t help with completing a more comprehensive study of the area, which was not included in a previous state-commissioned study completed in 2005. That study did include residences in neighboring streets in the Beverly Hills section of Amity.

Brackeen is also frustrated with what he perceives as statewide negligence toward New Haven. He said he was frustrated seeing eastern parts of the state receive attention for crumbling foundations, leaving New Haven’s sinking homes largely ignored.

According to the CT Mirror, the state made $40 million in bonding available into a Crumbling Foundations Assistance Fund administered by a not-for-profit insurance company. Towns that had filed complaints with the state Department of Consumer Protection all were on the eastern side of the state, according to CT Mirror.

“The eastern side of the state — easily — received millions of dollars of approval for crumbling foundations,” Brackeen said. “We’ve been working on this, a collection of us, it hasn’t just been me but I’ve been pushing it the last four years, this is going (on) 14, 15 years of people bringing us assessments.”

While the money would help secure more permanent repairs, the Jacksons are somewhat pessimistic. A recent rainstorm revealed a foot-wide sinkhole in the Jackson’s backyard that runs about three feet deep.

They aren’t even sure whether getting the repairs will leave them on firm ground for the foreseeable future. They wondered whether they will find themselves making additional repairs in another five years, and/or five years after that.

“We don’t know that,” Cheryl Jackson said. “I cannot answer that.”