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WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. – The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York filed an objection to a federal magistrate’s ruling on a housing settlement dispute, urging the court to deem the county executive’s veto of source-of-income legislation a settlement “breach.”
U.S. District Judge Denise Cote will consider whether County Executive Robert Astorino’s veto of a bill that barred landlords from discriminating against potential tenants based on the source of their income violated the agreement.
The attorney’s office said the magistrate’s ruling “is plainly incorrect to interpret the settlement to permit a county executive to engage in empty, meaningless gestures of ‘persuasion’ intended toward passage of legislation, secure in the knowledge that he will ultimately veto that same legislation.”
The objection, issued Friday by U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara, urged the court to “overrule the magistrate judge’s opinion and order and direct the county executive to comply with the terms of the settlement and promote legislation prohibiting source-of-income discrimination by encouraging its passage and ultimately signing it.”
Astorino, a Republican, inherited a 2009 settlement with the federal government from his predecessor requiring Westchester to spend $51.6 million building 750 units of affordable housing in 31 predominately white communities over the course of seven years. Astorino’s administration argued that Andrew Spano, former county executive, fulfilled an agreement stipulation requiring the county executive to promote source-of-income legislation “currently” before legislators. After the bill expired, Astorino vetoed its reincarnation, saying it would inadvertently raise housing costs and make affordable homes more scarce.
The federal government applauded the magistrate’s ruling that Westchester must identify what zoning practices hinder the construction of affordable homes, explain how it will overcome these ordinances and establish a system of consequences for municipalities that fail to amend exclusionary zoning.
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), which picked up and settled a 2006 lawsuit accusing Westchester of accepting federal housing funds without completing required minority housing pattern studies, according to an issued statement saying it was committed to working through its stalemate with Westchester.
HUD froze $7 million in housing grants when Westchester failed to submit a satisfactory report – analysis of impediments to fair housing – for the fifth time this summer.
“The magistrate judge agreed with the government’s position that HUD has the exclusive authority to determine the acceptability of the county’s submission of an analysis of impediments to fair housing choice and the county’s certification that it is affirmatively furthering fair housing,” the statement read. “To date, the county has yet to do its part. Fulfilling these obligations is a necessary condition of receiving federal taxpayer dollars.”
Astorino’s administration said the logic behind the federal magistrate’s ruling would make a strong case for why the county executive could veto source-of-income legislation without breaching the settlement.
Ned McCormack, a press representative for Astorino, said the magistrate “made a well-reasoned opinion” based on the facts. “We think this position, which is our position will be upheld,” he said.
Legislators agree with Astorino that nobody can force an elected official to sign legislation, according to Chairperson of the Westchester Board of Legislators Kenneth Jenkins (D-Yonkers).
“We’re down to one thing now to be able to resolve. I think everyone can roll up their sleeves and work together with the administration, the board of legislators and the government. We can figure this out,” said Jenkins.
Comments (17)
How does the town of Somers call it affordable housing when they discriminate?
You have to be over 65 to even qualify, and the majority of the people are all white?
What kind of affordable housing is that? Oh, and not to mention the fact that the
housing up in Baldwin Place is located upon contaminated land thats been contam-
inated for over 30 years now. The town approved of this knowing these facts.
As far as Preet Bharara statement goes............ he is 100 % correct.
MP these plantiffs lost a discrimination lawsuit against the County and the "settlement" of their follow-up "Fair Claims Act" lawsuit stunk like a political deal.
The workforce moderate income, and elderly housing you describe, scattered among market rate units with income levels at or modestly below County median is great. It exists all over northern Westchester under current laws. Unfortunately, that's not what HUD and its politically-connected developers have in mind.
Federally mandated social engineering.
Let's vote out the current statist administration and end funding to HUD and other leftist governmental agencies that merely exist to strip away our liberty and property rights.
This is what happens when you vote in Dems.
MP now you are being misleading. As you said UP to 84% of median family income. That is the top limit. Conversely 30% is the lowest limit and you can use welfare and/or a Section 8 housing voucher as an income source. The lower the income the more tax credits the developer gets. There are housing proposals on the books now that will provide a shuttle bus service to the train because the income level might not afford them a car. Having work force housing sounds terrific and most people have no problem with that but it is the prospect of welfare housing which this could become. As you said you have lived in Colorado and it was wonderful, now go to any large (50-100 units) low cost housing project in the metro area and wonderful will not be the adjective used. Lastly you mentioned educators and police officers as your neighbors. In Westchester they are well above the income level to qualify.
This is not about doing right by the disdvantaged. The only people who will benefit are the developers who receive the generous HUD tax credits, the unions who get the "prevailing wage" jobs and the County legislature's leadership who get their donations and organizational support from the first two. I guess Ken Jenkins is considering a run for Congrerss.
Northern Westchester towns are leaders in providing "workforce" "affordable" housing which according to the Rutgers Study is the very housing the region needs. All are welcome. At 30% of County median income as its threshold (even before counting public assisstance) this is low-income housing that brings people from outside the County into remote watershed areas with no jobs, transportation, infrastructure, support agencies or family. To what purpose-a mis-guided sense of social justice?
MJB - your comment that the only people who will benefit are the developers and unions is patently misleading. The following statement is from brochure on the settlement off of Westchester.gov website:
"families will be allowed annual incomes up to $84,200...It is not low income or homeless housing. Homes will be made available to working people who are able to afford rental or mortgage payments, utilities, and where units are purchased, property taxes."
http://www.ardsleyvillage.com/westchester_housing.html
I personally purchased a HUD affordable housing home 8 years ago. The development was 2-4 bedroom detached condominiums interspersed in an affluent, high priced community in Colorado (the city had a population of 22,000). I purchased my home for cash (this is allowed under HUD), and qualified to purchase because of my income as an educator. Here is a sampling of my neighbors who also bought under the HUD program:
a married couple with 2 children who were both elementary school teachers;
a lovely retired couple who where the parents of one of the teachers (they bought next to their children);
a police officer
an administrator for a Catholic charity whose husband had just died and was able to purchase a home for her family in a nice area (the sweetest most God-fearing woman you could ever meet);
a marketing specialist for a start-up non-profit;
All of these people were law abiding, salt of the earth people. Everyone in the community was respectful to everyone else; crime was virtually non-existent, and property values did not suffer because of the HUD housing.
In 2011 Forbes magazine ranked this city in Colorado (with it's HUD housing and all) as the number one city in America for quality of life.
I have lived in Tarrytown and in Yorktown and I can honestly say that the quality of life in Westchester is no where near the quality of life in that community in Colorado. There is far more crime in Westchester than there was in that community, and people are much more hard-hearted here.
Why is Westchester so afraid of affordable housing? Are you such elitist snobs that you would not welcome the people who I have described above as neighbors because they don't have as much money as you do?
How does that saying go...The fish always stinks from the head downwards.
(That's President Obama for all those in Tuckahoe)
Brilliant commentary. You must be "THE TRUTH". LOL. Jeff Meyer Tuckahoe, NY
The TRUTH of the matter is that municipalities should not accept funds in the form of CDB grants from their county government. Maybe if these municipal boards with their highly paid attorneys did their homework they would have realized that nothing is for free. This was always a quid pro quo from the beginning. Stop blaming President Obama for a matter that is self inflicted. It is simplistic at best and reeks of stupidity at worse. These municipalities had no problem accepting "free money" from HUD when it was used to repair the infrastructure of their communities. Now it's is time to pay the piper. Jeff Meyer Tuckahoe, NY
The same plaintiffs brought an earlier discrimination suit against the County and lost. This case is not about what the County did or did not do for Fair Housing, but about how they documenting it for HUD CDGB grants. Ironically, HUD is still holding back CDGB funds intended to help the disadvantaged even after loosing Round 1.
This second sham case under the False Claims Act never went to court. Spano who made the certifications settled to get off the hot seat and avoid large legal fees fighting HUD. Some say he and the Democrat majority did it in a desperate and failed attempt to sway minority voters from Astorino. In the end, with HUD's current bullying and attempts to circumvent local environmental laws, and the unfunded education burdens, they, in effect, left their mess for local taxpayers to deal with.
"in effect, left their mess for local taxpayers to deal with". No kidding. Are you and municipalities so naive to believe that there is no quid pro quo when it comes to receiving federal monies. That what this issue is about; plain and simple. Years ago Lake Isle Park in Eastchester received a small grant from the FEDS and it became a ball and chain wrapped around the town for years. Stop bringing President Obama and social engineering into this matter (others have). HUD is in the business of building affordable housing; period. If you want no involvement with them then don't take their monies. Very simple, isn't it. Jeff Meyer Tuckahoe, NY
No one is forcing affordable housing or "social engineering" on the upscale folks of Westchester. What most people seem to forget is that prior to the 2009 settlement, Westchester applied for, and accepted, millions in federal money under the guise they were complying with fair housing laws. They didn't do one thing to provide work force housing and in fact many town zoning codes blocked efforts to build affordable housing. In effect, Westchester stole money from the federal government that was intended for work force housing.
A federal judge ruled that Westchester had "utterly failed" to meet its obligations associated with taking the housing money. The settlement agreement of 2009 is just asking Westchester to keep their part of the bargain and do what they falsely claimed they had been doing in order to get the money from the feds; and Astorino is squealing "foul" and claiming the feds are over-reaching.
Typical of his over-indulged cronies to fraudulently take money that is intended to benefit the working class and use it for the exclusivity of the upper class. In case I haven't spelled it out clear enough, what Westchester did prior to 2009 is steal from the working class and give to the upper class.
MP Daily are you saying that ex- Democrat County Executive Andy Spano and the Democrat majority County Legislature stole from the poor to give to the rich? I don't understand because I thought that's what Republicans are supposed to do.
Touche...point well taken.
However, what you have said does not negate the fact that Westchester County took money from the federal government designated for fair housing. Under the settlement agreement (that they freely entered into) they have obligations to promote fair housing. Observe the current Somers Town Board and Planning Board meeting videos. The planning board is behind an affordable housing project that the town board is resisting because it would require zoning code changes. Have we learned anything here?
Most of those town codes in Somers are in direct violation of due process of law and are Arbitrary and Capricious. The Town board that is run and controlled by Murphy calls all the shots and makes all the wrong decisions for its people. Its time the people of Somers woke us and rid themselves of this blood sucker. Like one of the former town board members was quoted as saying just recently that: " The Town is Run More Like a Mafia and not a municipality.
Gee, I wonder why anyone would even think of saying such a terrible thing? Not Mary Beth Murphy and her pals? Naw, they would never do anything wrong like that would they now? Why would any town board member even make a comment like that unless of course they knew something?
As anyone read the latest federal actions against the town of Somers and Mary Beth? If they have not seen that one yet, they may just want to look at the other one with former Senator Liebell and Mary Beth Murphy listed at the very top of the 42 USC Section 1983 action and under RICO.
Oh, the word taxed also means ripped off, ripped off by corrupt politicians.!!!!!
This is another reason to defeat President Obama in November. If that fails a 100 unit affordable housing complex in the middle of the Colony in Goldens Bridge would not be a bad consolation.