In the News

U.S. Rep. Richard E. Neal said Thursday he wants to get the Massachusetts attorney general's office and mortgage lenders from across the state working on behalf of homeowners whose foundations are crumbling due to tainted concrete from Connecticut.

But he, the homeowners and the municipalities where faulty foundations are feared to be are stymied by a lack of records showing where and when the bad concrete was used."We are all working toward a solution," he said following an hour-long meeting with lawmakers and municipal officials.

He'd like the Massachusetts Bankers Association to work with owners of homes with failing foundations so they can avoid foreclosures, which benefit no one's bottom line.He plans to ask Attorney General Maura Healey Thursday to get insurance companies and anyone else who bears responsibility for the failing foundations involved in helping homeowners.

"Perhaps there is some regulatory pressure that can be brought to bear that can engender some cooperation," Neal said.

Insurers who sold polices for homes in Connecticut later found to have the tainted concrete are defending themselves in federal court against lawsuits brought by homeowners who can't get paid for crumbling foundations that have not completely failed."In Connecticut it is clear that everyone is retreating to their respective corners," Neal said.

Neal also heard from the IRS. As ranking Democrat on the tax-policy-writing House Ways and Means Committee, Neal helped Connecticut congressmen get a tax writeoff for affected homeowners. But the writeoff might not be applicable following the close of the 2017 tax year because of reforms signed into law a few weeks ago.Massachusetts homeowners are just now learning they have the problem. Russell Dupere and his wife Tatiana, of Longmeadow, spoke out in late 2017. Crumbling concrete has also cropped up in East Longmeadow, Monson, Palmer, Wales and Ware.

Becker Quarry in Willington, Connecticut, sold the pyrrhotite-contaminated stone through the now defunct JJ Mottes concrete company from 1983 until 2017, when it agreed to stop under state pressure.

The naturally occurring pyrrhotite reacts with oxygen and water over time in a chemical process that makes the concrete swell, crack and crumble. It takes 10, 15 or even 20 years for the cracking and swelling to become apparent. Many fear Massachusetts is only at the cusp of the problem.

Once a foundation starts to crack, there is no way to fix it except  jacking up the home and building a new foundation -- at a cost of hundreds of thousands of dollars. Homeowners often can't pay for that work because their homes have dropped in value.

"People are going to be ferocious on this," Neal said. "It is the biggest bank account that most people accumulate in their life time: that equity in their home."

Neal said homeowners need to contact insurance companies and their builders if they can still contact them.State Rep. Brain M. Ashe, D-Longmeadow, encouraged people who think they have failing foundations to contact local government and lawmakers.

Towns have very little way of knowing when the bad concrete was used. Building permits list the general contractor, not necessarily the subcontractor who did the foundations and footings.

And even those records won't list the concrete supplier or suppliers. Different ready-mix providers might have poured the footings, foundations, patios or driveways depending on availability.

"It just depends on what address the concrete truck visited on that particular day," said Longmeadow Town Manager Stephen J. Crane.

State Sen. Eric D. lesser, said it remains to be seen if the problem of failing foundations can be sorted out among the parties like builders, the quarry or insurance providers. But the homeowners might be headed litigation, lengthy court battles, or a legislative remedy. State lawmakers in Connecticut have set aside state bond money to pay for homeowners to get concrete tested.

Lesser was not at the meeting Neal hosted Thursday in Springfield. He was in Boston .