After a hard-fought legislative campaign that was interrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic, GHIAA received word that Gov. Lamont signed H.B. 6516 into law on March 4, 2021, effectively putting a long-overdue end to welfare liens in Connecticut.

Renee Blake, a leader in this campaign has a lien against her home for state assistance received over forty years ago. When Renee went to appeal the lien two years ago, a representative told her that the liens were final; “it is what it is” was the exact response.  The passing of H.B. 6516 means that Renee is now able to sell her home and use the equity to retire to Georgia with family.  “We can’t control some things,” said Renee, “but we can control how we react.  I’m overwhelmed that my story helped end this thing.  God has a plan.”

For Rev. Joshua Pawelek, Minister at the Unitarian Universalist Society: East and GHIAA leader, working on this campaign was a response to his call to ministry.  “My call has never been only about serving a congregation within the walls of its building,” said Rev. Pawelek, “I am called to live out the values of my faith in the public square by working in solidarity with people most impacted by oppression.”

For Isee Greenwood, repealing welfare liens is bittersweet. After working hard to purchase a home and make consistent payments, Isee encountered financial difficulty.  Her lender was willing to work with her to renegotiate her mortgage, but preventing this was a welfare lien.  Isee watched her home go into foreclosure and all of her belongings put on auction. Not only did the state NOT recoup any of the money for the lien from the foreclosure, but also Isee and her children ended up homeless.

“We will always carry the scar of pain because our house is gone, we were stripped from the very home that we thought we owned,” said Isee.  However, the passing of this law now means that Isee is free of over $100k in liens! In her words, this gives her and her family “a sense of tranquility from the agony, stress, and pain which hovered above our heads for years.”

GHIAA thanks all of our brave leaders, congregations, Sarah White of CT Fair Housing, House Representative Matt Ritter, Representative Toni Walker, and numerous others who helped make this win possible!

While this bill is a tremendous step forward, it did not remove the State’s ability to recover money from legal settlements and financial judgements from those who have received various forms of state assistance.  GHIAA is working to repeal ALL forms of welfare recovery!  More information on next steps coming soon.

A GHIAA press conference with House Representative Ritter will stream on CLJ’s Facebook page (@cljaction) Tuesday, March 9, 2021 at 11:30am.