David McCarthy
Imagine that you’ve achieved the American dream of homeownership. You invested in your community, maybe raised a family and made life plans, only to see them all come crashing down through no fault of your own. That’s the predicament now facing many Massachusetts homeowners with crumbling foundations.
Homes in Hampden, Hampshire and Worcester counties have recently started to exhibit foundation problems attributed to a mineral named pyrrhotite in their concrete foundations. Over decades, pyrrhotite reacts with oxygen and water in a chemical process that makes the concrete swell, crack and crumble, causing homes to collapse. It typically takes decades before signs are noticeable. As a result, the growing number of Massachusetts homes now displaying the tell-tale cracking suggests we may be at the tip of an iceberg.
Once homeowners discover this problem, they could face a life-changing bill to cover the cost of replacing their home’s foundation, the only available solution at this time. A December 2019 report by the state legislature cited repairs could cost $150,000 to $250,000 per home, and residents have testified to significantly more. For most people, this requires tapping into life savings or a 401k and indefinitely postponing major life changes such as retirement or downsizing.
Taking no action guts the value of the property, harming homeowners, town tax collections and mortgage lenders. Once the cracking begins it inevitably worsens as initial cracks let in more air and moisture which causes more pyrrhotite reactions and further cracking. Over time, the home becomes increasingly unsafe to inhabit until it eventually collapses.
Early Steps Not Enough
Fortunately, legislators took important initial steps in their fiscal year 2019 budget to address part of the problem by creating a grant program to reimburse homeowners who have their homes tested for the presence of pyrrhotite. However, next steps have proven more difficult as the state faces two big questions: What is the scope of the problem and how can we fix it?
Our understanding of the first question has shifted over time.
Connecticut discovered this issue several years before it proliferated in Massachusetts. Beginning around 2015, Connecticut homeowners found that Becker’s Quarry of Willington, Connecticut had supplied pyrrhotite-rich concrete for homes throughout the region. Because Becker’s was only about 15 miles from the Massachusetts border, homeowners in the region were on high alert. However, with no funding for testing or repairs and little publicly available information about the problem, most residents barely noticed. Even with state testing reimbursement, only a handful of homeowners came forward. As of late 2019, only 21 homeowners had applied for testing grants.
Since then, it has become clear that the problem is significantly larger than we first thought. Estimates from Connecticut forecast 4,000 to 6,000 impacted homes within that state. In 2019, many thought that Massachusetts was just facing spillover effects from its neighbor. Indeed, early versions of the Massachusetts testing reimbursement program limited access based on proximity to Becker’s Quarry.
However, since then, homes in 28 Massachusetts communities have tested positive for the presence of pyrrhotite as far north as Ashburnham, too far to have been transported from Becker’s. That means there must be another quarry (or several) providing pyrrhotite-rich concrete for Massachusetts homes. Unfortunately, our state is at particularly high risk for this problem, with a wide band of pyrrhotite-permissive rock running north to south across the middle of the state.
Homeowners Watching, Waiting
Furthermore, because there is currently no state program to educate or assist impacted homeowners, many either don’t know about the problem or are afraid to test their homes because of the massive ramifications that come with a positive result. As a result, many homeowners are waiting, hoping the state takes action while their homes become increasingly unsafe to inhabit. Should a foundation give out, a home could collapse. Not only would this have obvious devastating consequences for the homeowners, but it would harm the broader community by introducing blight to neighborhood.
Realtors have taken several steps to help their communities. Since 2018, local associations in impacted communities have provided members with crumbling concrete disclosure forms and run educational forums. Realtors are also supporting two bills, S.495, and S.2242. The former is an omnibus bill that would educate homebuyers, sellers and the general public through home inspections and a devoted relief agency. It would also provide funding assistance through tax-exempt grants, property tax abatements and waived permit fees to make foundation replacements easier and more affordable. Finally, this bill as well as S.2242 would prevent future problems by creating standards for quarry testing and licensing.
Enacting these solutions is essential. Not only do they help homeowners, but they also protect municipal revenues and community vitality. Assuring that future generations aren’t faced with this problem will save the state money in the long run and the significant mental and emotional toll impacted homeowners face. We recognize the challenge facing legislators. It’s difficult to enact legislation even with all the facts on the table. In this situation, there may be more questions than answers, but as an industry, we’re very concerned that each day without state action places more homeowners at risk.
David McCarthy is the 2023 president of the Massachusetts Association of Realtors and the operating partner at Keller Williams Boston|Metro.
