Let Those Foundation-Fixing Funds Flow In Hamden

By Lisa Reisman, New Haven Independent

HAMDEN, CT — At a Monday morning press conference marking an expected $8 million Community Investment Fund grant for the Newhall Foundations Repair Fund, State Rep. Steve Winter brought home the reality of daily life for Newhall property owners year after year.

“Anyone who’s ever gone down into their basement or looked at their foundation and seen a big crack or seen mold, that’s gotta be the scariest thing you can look at,” he told a group of 25 neighbors outside Shelton Avenue’s Breakthrough Church in the chill, late-autumn air. “It disrupts your whole sense of well-being, your whole sense of security.”

Winter was referring to the sinking and crumbling foundations of Newhall properties, as well as water intrusion issues, caused by a century of historic industrial waste disposal, and exacerbated by a subsequent environmental cleanup. The grant is expected to be approved at the state’s next Bond Commission meeting.

Lt. Gov. Susan Bysiewicz said the foundations repair project reflected the animating purpose of the CIF. “It was designed to give funding to vulnerable communities living with the challenge of social injustice and inequities for a long time,” she said.

She lauded the hardy band of Newhall neighbors that formed the Hamden Newhall Neighborhood Association (HNNA) in 2024. “These neighbors have had to deal with unstable foundations, health concerns, and financial strain, and none of that was of their own making,” she said. Noting that most of them are women, and women get things done, she remarked “a big reason we’re here is because of them.”

State Rep. Josh Elliott sounded a similar refrain. “This wasn’t going to happen if people weren’t advocating for themselves,” he said, as members of the HNNA and their neighbors looked on from the crowd. “Through the advocacy for yourselves, you allowed us to advocate for you.”

Several speakers, including Mayor Lauren Garrett, Legislative Council President Dominique Baez, and Hamden State Rep. and at-large council member Laurie Sweet, acknowledged the contributions of former councilman Justin Farmer to the foundation repair; his leadership in the effort to ensure the town used a portion of the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds for evaluations of the properties ultimately formed a basis for the grant, Garrett said.

State Sen. President Pro Tem Martin Looney discussed the walking tour of the properties taken by several members of the state delegation over the summer. “To see the suffering and endurance of these people, we’re so pleased to be in a position to help.” He thanked Mayor Garrett for her leadership on the issue.

State Sen. Jorge Cabrera was blunt. “It is about time,” he said. “We need to get this project done to ensure that people can go home to a decent home where they don’t get dizzy and they don’t get sick.”

State Rep. Mary Welander highlighted the significance of homeownership to generational wealth. “This is how people and families lift themselves up for generations, and if we are not able to make these families whole, we’re not doing our job,” she said.

Councilwoman Rhonda Caldwell, whose district includes Newhall, noted that the Newhall community was built based on redlining, the practice of denying people access to credit because of where they live. “That meant folks who lived here didn’t have the ability to live anywhere else in Hamden but here on toxic wasteland,” she said. “This is an opportunity to right a wrong.”

Rev. Caitlin O’Brien, senior organizer at the Congregations Organized for a New Connecticut (CONECT) which formed a crucial alliance with HNNA, described the fortitude of its members who routinely showed up at legislative council meetings after work, often staying until late in the night. “These women didn’t stop, even when they were bone-tired, even when they weren’t sure if it would make a difference.”

“Make no mistake,” she said. “This is the steady, relational work of democracy.”

A member of the fund oversight committee, which met after the press conference to establish a framework going forward, O’Brien later reported an agreement that the HNNA would choose representatives to serve alongside key town employees as well as the construction management company in designing a fair and transparent program.

Among those at the meeting was Tonya Campbell, HNNA vice president. Speaking earlier at the press conference, she expressed gratitude to everyone involved, then paused before articulating the unofficial guiding principle of the group.

“It ends with us,” she said, her voice cracking. “We are committed to ensuring that future generations will not inherit these challenges.”

The New Haven Independent is a not-for-profit public-interest daily news site founded in 2005.