EDITORIAL: Travelers to the rescue of homeowners with crumbling foundations

Dec. 11--Once again, Travelers parachutes in to help. The insurer, founded in Connecticut, is doing what all insurance companies should be doing: providing money to assist the state with its crumbling foundation crisis.

Travelers is putting $5 million into the Travelers Benefit Program. The funds will go to current and former policyholders who qualify for state grants to replace home foundations that are deteriorating because of pyrrhotite. The mineral, when exposed to air and water, expands, cracks and weakens concrete.

The Travelers money is meant to supplement the state's own generous aid. The state has promised $100 million over five years to help homeowners replace their foundations. Nearly 800 homeowners have reported problems, and hundreds more are believed to be affected. Those homes are mostly within a 20-mile radius of the quarry in Willington that the pyrrhotite has been traced to.

Qualifying homeowners will receive up to $175,000 in state grants to replace foundations, which can cost $200,000 or more per home. The Travelers Benefit Program will pay up to $25,000 for current policyholders and $10,000 for past policyholders to make up costs not covered by the state grants.

This is much-needed help. There are few if any other places for affected homeowners to turn to for financial help with their most valuable possession. The danger is that many homeowners will walk away from their homes if they can't afford to replace their foundations. That could be a disaster for the region and the state.

Many homeowners have no idea who poured their foundations or where the concrete came from. State Attorney General George Jepsen has said that there is "insufficient evidence" that people in the concrete and construction business knew the risks of pyrrhotite when they were building homes from 1983 on. Besides, "the likeliest defendants almost certainly lack sufficient assets to allow meaningful financial recovery relative to the dramatic scope of the damages collectively faced by affected homeowners."

Meanwhile, insurance companies are denying homeowner claims, saying they cover damage from sudden accidents such as hurricanes, not slow-motion ones. Nevertheless, a class-action lawsuit that pits several homeowners against insurance companies is making its way through federal court in Bridgeport.

Insurers will have to be part of the solution to Connecticut's potentially catastrophic problem. Thanks to the Travelers for recognizing that and being the first to step up to help in the state's time of need.

Travelers also rescued the state's PGA Tour tournament a dozen years ago when it needed a sponsor. The Travelers Championship is now the state's signature sporting event and was named 2017 PGA Tour tournament of the year.

And Travelers was one of three major Hartford insurance companies that pledged millions to help the city out of its precarious financial situation.

"We are an insurance company that cares," Travelers says on its website. It's proving to be a caring corporate citizen to the state where it was born.

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