New Haven resident May Mitchell owned her Ivy Street home for years, but it wasn’t until recently she learned of her house’s hidden hazard, mold
“I didn't know what was going on in my home, the mold,” Mitchell said. “You can own a home, but if you don't know what to do and how to get the help you need, these are the people you can count on to help you.”
Mitchell is one of 15 homeowners whose house was remediated for mold and retrofitted for energy efficiency as part of a new, state-run pilot program.
The program updated Mitchell’s home heating and cooling systems.
The Urban Investment Initiative, run by the state Department of Housing (DOH) is a two-pronged program, according to Seila Mosquera-Bruno, DOH Commissioner.
Under the pilot, eight new affordable housing units are being built. The two-family homes on Hazel Street will be owner-occupied. The four owners will then be able to rent out the second unit for passive income.
“In addition to that, we wanted to make sure that people in the neighborhood that have been living here for a long time have access to resources,” Mosquera-Bruno said. “We included $900,000 for retrofitting for 30 houses around the neighborhood.”
With the success of the program in New Haven, Mosquera-Bruno plans to expand the pilot to four other cities across Connecticut, including Hartford and Waterbury.
The retrofitting was conducted by the local nonprofit Efficiency for All. The new homes were built under the guidance of Yale University students, including students of the Yale School of Architecture.
In deciding what areas were fit for the program, Mosquera-Bruno said the state looked at several factors.
“We looked at the corresponding household, we looked at the percentage of low income households, the percentage of households that were overcrowded, and then we also looked at health indicators, asthma rate, cancer rates, mental health rate and poor physical [health] rates,” Mosquera-Bruno said.
Announced in late 2024, the eight affordable apartments will be completed by November.
The homes are the first project from the Housing Clinic, a partnership between Yale and DOH. The homes were funded with $3.5 million in state funding, including $2.6 million for the homes and the $900,000 for retrofitting.
Once the 30 retrofitted homes are complete, the program hopes to continue retrofitting more homes, according to Efficiency for All founder, Leticia Colon De Meijas.
State Rep. Steve Winter, a Democrat, representing part of New Haven, leads the city’s Office of Climate and Sustainability.
It’s important the state take care of existing housing stock, along with building more homes, Winter said.
“If you've got mold and you can't get the insulation in, then how do you get the new heating system in so you can have air conditioning in the winter,” Winter said. “All of these things are connected. It takes a whole village of partners to do it, and it takes the resources to do it.”
