Federal Judge Cathy Seibel in White Plains has approved a settlement reached between the Village of Spring Valley and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York regarding a federal lawsuit that was filed in January 2025.
The lawsuit claimed that Spring Valley and Rockland County failed to fulfill commitments they had made to increase affordable housing as a way of settling previous claims of housing discrimination. Although Spring Valley worked out a settlement of the lawsuit, as of March 11 the action against Rockland County was continuing.
“I applaud the commitment of the Village of Spring Valley to build more affordable housing as part of this resolution,” said U.S. Attorney Jay Clayton. “Local regulations, including restrictions on new construction and unduly burdensome permitting processes, are driving housing construction costs out of sight. It’s basic economics: if it costs too much to build new homes, the cost of existing homes is only going to go up. This agreement shows there is a way forward, and we appreciate the commitment of Spring Valley to lower the costs of, and time it takes, to build affordable housing.”
The court case developed after federal Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) funds were used by a developer in a project to build 62 affordable housing units. HUD received complaints that the developer unlawfully designed and marketed the units almost exclusively for sale to White Hasidic Jewish prospective homebuyers, allegedly in violation of federal law.
HUD received allegations that Spring Valley and Rockland County failed to ensure that appropriate remedial steps were taken before the project was completed and the units were sold. A Voluntary Compliance Agreement and Conciliation Agreement (“VCA”) was reached by Spring Valley and Rockland with the federal government in 2018. The VCA provided that Spring Valley and Rockland would ensure that 62 additional affordable housing units would be constructed with 22 in Spring Valley. By the time the January 2025 lawsuit was filed, only four new units had been created.
The new settlement with Spring Valley requires the village to complete 22 affordable rental units by December 2030. The units must be designated for households earning 75% or less than the Area Median Income (AMI) for Rockland County. Deed restrictions or other legal measures must ensure the units remain affordable for at least 50 years.
A schedule requires that the first 13 units be completed by Dec. 1, 2028. Five additional units must be completed by Dec. 1, 2029. The final four units must be completed by Dec. 1, 2030. Spring Valley must pay a $15,000 civil penalty and provide mandatory training for employees on the Fair Housing Act and improve its oversight of recipients of funding from HUD.
The court-approved settlement requires Spring Valley to submit a marketing plan for the new housing units. It also requires Spring Valley to certify that any affordable housing units developed or rehabilitated using HUD funds meet various federal requirements. Spring Valley also is required to submit semi-annual reports to the federal government describing what it is doing to comply with requirements of the settlement.
