Debate Over Affordable Housing Continues in Westchester

The battle over the 2009 Westchester County Affordable Housing Settlement and $7.4 million in community block grants for Westchester continues. County Executive Rob Astorino is now claiming that HUD is reaching beyond the scope of the original agreement and demanding that Westchester build 10,678 units as suggested in a 2005 Affordable Allocation Plan, rather than the 750 required by the settlement. Astorino is also charging that Westchester communities, outside the 31 named in the settlement, will also be required to construct affordable units.

In response, James Johnson, the Federal Monitor for the case has written to Astorino to demand that he remove these "misleading statements" from County press releases and the County website. In his letter, Johnson explains that in March 2013, in an effort to resolve issues around the suit, the Monitor sent letters with preliminary findings on zoning and requests for additional information to the individual municipalities. These letters included the benchmark counts for affordable units as set in the 2005 report. According to the Monitor, the court found that though these allocations "do not carry the force of law, passing a zoning ordinance that prohibits multi-family or high-density housing is calculated directly or indirectly to thwart the fulfillment of the need of the town and region, presently and in the future."

Johnson concludes that these benchmarks "neither expand nor supplant the County's obligation to build the 750 units" and that in fact, "the Monitor does not have unilateral authority to upwardly revise the number of units required in the settlement."

However, Johnson does reassert that the County is obliged to conduct an analysis of impediments to fair and affordable housing that includes an analysis of local zoning ordinances. The study must "identify zoning practices that would, if not remedied by the municipality, lead the county to pursue legal action." HUD expected to have an acceptable analysis from the County in 2009, however the Monitor says that in the past three years, the "County failed to submit an A1 deemed acceptable to HUD." But according to Astorino, "The County has conducted several comprehensive reviews of all 853 zoning districts in Westchester and found no evidence of exclusionary practices based on race or ethnicity."

Democrat Ken Jenkins, who chairs the County Board of Legislature also got involved in an effort to end the impasses and secure the release of $7.4 million in Community Development Block Grants from Fiscal Year 2011 that HUD is threatening to reallocate unless the County complies with the suit. Jenkins, said, "Instead of race-baiting and issuing false and discriminatory statements regarding the Housing Settlement, County Executive Astorino should be working with all parties to comply with the settlement and lead our communities on a path that ensures fair and affordable housing will be a big component of a strong and prosperous future. Instead of promoting amicable cooperation here, he's fostering animus and conflict, which can only be detrimental for everyone involved. This unproductive and misleading rhetoric regarding the settlement needs to end today."

In the meantime, Federal Monitor Johnson's letter tells Astorino that if he fails to correct the website and his statements, the Monitor "will ask the Department of Justice to include this unresolved issue in its status report to the Court to be filed on June 14."