NAACP: Remove conditions that exclude residents of color from flooding aid

Just days before the application period for the $5 million Hartford Flood Compensation Program opens Friday, the NAACP is raising concerns that the fund may discriminate against those who need it most.

In a four-page letter, the NAACP’s Legal Defense Fund in Washington, D.C., requested a meeting with city and state officials to discuss concerns that residents not be disqualified from receiving the funds due to unpaid taxes or parking tickets. Among those addressed in the letter are Mayor Luke Bronin, State Comptroller Sean Scanlon, and fund administrator Dr. Gary Rhule.

“We are concerned, however, that prior assistance programs have unfairly excluded Hartford residents of color by requiring residents to pay all outstanding property taxes, motor vehicle taxes, and parking tickets before they can even apply for the programs. This policy is not required by federal or state law and is a major deterrent for the exact population the program is supposed to be helping. Fines and fees can disproportionately harm families of color due to discriminatory practices in issuing fines and fees and in the systemic issues of wealth inequities that make it more difficult for these families to pay,” the letter said.

Those concerns are not unfounded, according to NAACP Economic Justice Policy Fellow David Wheaton. In 2021, Hartford announced that it was providing $500,000 in federal FEMA assistance to property owners affected by flooding through its Flood Mitigation Assistance Program but some residents were turned away from receiving aid.

“Like the HFC, Hartford’s FMA Program was created in response to extreme rainfall to the city of Hartford, causing widespread street and basement flooding and was meant for low-income Hartford residents. In order to apply for the FMA program, the city required residents to be current on property taxes, motor vehicle taxes, and outstanding parking tickets. The city currently imposes similar requirements on its Housing Preservation Loan Fund Program, which was designed to help low-income and moderate-income households renovate their properties and is supported by Community Development Block Grants funds from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development,” the letter said.

But Bronin said that while it is true a couple residents were excluded due to unpaid tax obligations, the city worked with each resident directly to ensure they could meet their obligations and receive funds under the FMA program.

“After multiple severe rain and flooding events in the late summer of 2021, the City of Hartford established a $500,000 relief fund to assist homeowners affected by these three storms — an entirely new, unprecedented program that we created to provide direct relief to homeowners. There is a longstanding city ordinance that prohibits the city from making payments to individuals or businesses who owe money to the city, and the program had to abide by that ordinance. While six applicants were initially rejected because of this requirement, our team communicated to each applicant that so long as they worked with the tax collector to develop a payment plan to repay those outstanding payments over time, we would consider them eligible to receive the flood mitigation funds – and three of the rejected applicants received funding after working out a payment plan or paying their delinquent taxes. In all, the program was able to help 68 homeowners fix damage to their boilers, windows, water heaters, and their basements. The creation of this new, larger flood relief fund at the state level is a huge win for our community, given the increasing frequency of devastating rain storms,” Bronin said in a statement.

The Hartford Flood Compensation Program was established through the adoption of Gov. Ned Lamont’s latest budget. The $5 million program is overseen by the Office of the State Comptroller, administered by Rhule and tasked with providing compensation to eligible property owners in the city who experienced damage caused by flooding on or after Jan. 1, 2021.

But for Hartford resident and activist Brigitte Prince, who has been fighting for years to establish a fund for victims in the North End, the letter is the culmination of months of communicating with Wheaton and others.

“There are already doubts in my mind that when the state received the money, whether they were going to do the victims of the North End right,” Prince said. “Previous applications dealing with the FEMA funds had ridiculous conditions attached to them in order to receive any of the funding. But when we addressed those concerns to the state, they were always brushed off.”

Prince said that the NAACP Legal Defense Fund came back to her and said that FEMA does not require any stipulations about being current on taxes or parking tickets, a rule they said was imposed by the city. Further, there are no HUD regulations that require that recipients of these funds must be current on taxes or parking tickets to participate in the program, according to Wheaton.

Hartford’s North End is also among the state’s poorest areas with a median income of only $25,000 and many residents likely have unpaid debts including property, motor vehicle or parking tickets owed to the city, according to the letter.

“Now with the sewage overflow and the mold contamination, you have residents who have come down with ailments including cancer. People are literally dying,” Prince said. “But if you have an unpaid parking ticket, you can’t get help. It was also my intent the funds would be just for residents of the North End, but now anyone in the city can apply. So I don’t think the money is going to end up going towards the North End.”

According to Prince, funding for Rhule’s salary to administer the fund, the Blue Hills Civic Association, which is helping process the applications, and the MDC inspectors to assess property damage are being drawn from the $5 million Compensation Fund.

“They’re guaranteed the money, but the victims are not,” Prince said. “Everyone is getting a piece of this money, expect for the people who will need it most.”

The Comptroller’s Office said that it acknowledges receipt of the letter and intends to meet with officials at the Legal Defense Fund, according to Madi Csejka, spokesperson. But despite the concerns of Prince and the NAACP, no one should be excluded from receiving aid due to unpaid debts, according to a letter sent to the Courant from Scanlon.

“The state statute creating this program specified that the only requirement to participate are to be owners of real or personal property in the city of Hartford and to have experienced damage caused by flooding on or after January 1, 2021. The statute does not make mention of any additional requirements or expressly forbid those who may be behind on other financial obligations, such as parking tickets or motor vehicle taxes, from participating, nor will OSC deny financial assistance or reimbursement to eligible participants for that reason. My office has also taken the additional step to clarify this issue with the Connecticut Department of Revenue Services to ensure eligible participants will receive relief directly without any offset,” Scanlon said in a letter.

Bronin said that despite the fund not including any stipulations about unpaid debts, he also intends to meet with members of the Legal Defense Fund to hear their concerns.

“We look forward to working together with the Comptroller’s office and with the Blue Hills Civic Association to help make sure that everyone eligible for relief gets that relief. Because this relief program applies to any damaged sustained in 2021 and later, the three households that ultimately were unable to receive relief funds from the city may well be able to apply to this new fund, as can anyone who may have chosen not to apply for the city relief funds. I have tremendous respect for the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, and we would be more than happy to meet or talk with the them about this or any other issue, any time.”

Stephen Underwood can be reached at sunderwood@courant.com