Mayor Luke Bronin said he wanted to make it clear the program is not about a fix of flooding and sewage issues that plague the city and its residents.
After tireless advocacy from Hartford community leaders, another step towards making residents whole was taken today as state Comptroller Sean Scanlon announced that residents can start the application process for the Hartford Flood Compensation Program on Sept 1.
The compensation program was established through the adoption of the governor’s 2024-2025 biennium budget and the $5 million pilot program is to be overseen by the Office of the State Comptroller, administered by Dr. Gary Rhule, and must provide financial assistance or reimbursement to eligible owners of real property in Hartford who experienced damage caused by flooding on or after Jan. 1, 2021.
Officials said that to obtain reimbursement, property owners who believe they are eligible must visit osc.ct.gov/Hartfordflood or Blue Hills Civic Association, at a temporary address at Colin Bennett Building: 1229 Albany Avenue, Third Floor, Suite 306, Hartford, to obtain an application. Completed applications and supporting documentation are to be submitted to HartfordFloodHelp@ct.gov; Blue Hills Civic Association; or Office of the State Comptroller/Hartford Flood Compensation Program, 165 Capitol Ave., Hartford 06106. The applications will then be reviewed by the program administrator.
If notified by the grant administrator they are eligible for potential reimbursement, property owners then will arrange a home inspection via an approved Department of Consumer Protection-licensed inspector or an Metropolitan District Commission-provided inspector, and await an inspection report review by the program administrator. Approved applicants will have payments sent to the applicant’s residential address listed on the application.
While there is no deadline for submission, officials said that it is a first-come, first-served program until funds are depleted.
“As happens here in the North End and all across the city, sometimes with the increasing frequency of the storms, you’re seeing damage. And the residents, homeowners, and church congregation members – they need relief from the storms that are happening now,” Scanlon said. “Well, as the mayor said, the work gets underway, the important work gets underway to fix the underlying infrastructure and those underlying problems. And I get firsthand having talked to those people, and then working hard on this for the last few weeks, that this is a very timely issue.”
Rhule, who grew up in the city’s North End and once served as its health and human services director, recently was appointed by. Gov. Ned Lamont to lead the newly created Hartford Flood Compensation Program.
Rhule, a health care management consultant, grew up in Hartford’s North End after moving here from Jamaica at age 14. He attended University of Rochester Medical School and served as an emergency room doctor at Saint Francis Hospital before earning a master’s degree in public health from Johns Hopkins University, and an MBA in finance and health care management from Wharton School of Business, University of Pennsylvania. He later also served as medical director for Charter Oak Health Center in Hartford.
“This is a great day for the city of Hartford and for the state of Connecticut. And I say that because we’ve always been centers of innovation to create solutions for difficult issues,” he said. “And this is one of them.
“Hartford is a great place to live…The reason why this is so important is because this is part of the promise of having healthy homes and a healthy environment for our current residents, as well as for generations to come. I’m very excited to work with Scanlon and the entire team that we see behind us to get this program up and running. And I look forward to working with the community as well,” he said.
State Speaker of the House Matt Ritter addressed concerns that residents might have about whether or not there is money in the fund to cover all the damages.
“Let me say this, this is a pilot program that has never existed before in the history of the state of Connecticut. So to the extent that we find out there’s more homeowners than we thought, we can go in next year and appropriate additional funds,” he said.
“We really don’t know the scope of the problem. The estimates that we have are somewhere south of 1,000 properties, residents, businesses, renters, whatever it may be,” Ritter said. “It may be double that…And that number comes from complaints the MDC had and work that was done. And that same list was used to determine where a lot of the projects are going to go.”
While he said the program is a great accomplishment that the Hartford delegation was able to achieve, they understand it might need more tweaks next year and they are willing to make those as needed.
Mayor Luke Bronin said he wanted to make it clear that the program is not about a fix of the flooding and sewage issues that plague the city and its residents, but about providing relief to those affected by the issue.
MDC plans to raise $85 million for new water, sewer projects. Here is what they are.
“This problem is huge. And the solution is not quick or easy. We are seeing what were once-in-a-century storms happen once a year, twice a year, or more…,” he said. “Once again, I think one of the things that we know is that there’s more of that to come – that the severity of the weather we’re seeing is unlike anything we’ve seen in our lifetimes.
“The frequency of those storms is going to increase. And we have a storm sewer system, not just here in Hartford, not just in the Hartford region, but around the state and probably around the country – that’s built for a different era. And what that means is that all too often we are going to see that system overwhelmed by these increasingly severe and frequent storms,” he said.
He said the work of fixing this issue for the long term has started with the announcement about the down payment on investments to improve the stormwater infrastructure and continue the sewer separation.
Blue Hills Civic Association Executive Director Vicki Gallon-Clark said her organization will have a role in reaching out to community members about the new program. She said Chief Operating Officer Victoria Fennell will be corresponding with the state continually throughout the pilot program and the new flooding assistance center, which will assist residents and business owners with the program application process.
“At the end of the day, it’s really about our residents. It’s about our residents being restored. It’s about our residents having information, timely information, comprehensive information. And it’s about giving hope back to our residents,” she said. “We’re talking about an issue that has occurred for years. So this we know that this is not a magical fix, but we know that it’s a beginning. And so our role is making sure…that we’re knocking on doors, that we’re helping residents apply for this program, and that the application is in on a timely basis.”
