The federal government is suing Rockland County and the Village of Spring Valley for allegedly breaking a deal to create 62 units of affordable housing.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office brought the case on behalf of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to enforce a 2018 agreement that was made after HUD grant money was allegedly used to build discriminatory housing.
“Since the completion of four units in the Nyack Point project in 2018,” according to the complaint filed on Jan. 17 in White Plains federal court, “defendants have failed to ensure the completion of a single additional affordable housing unit.”
“This lawsuit flagrantly mischaracterizes the county’s actions and attitudes,” Rockland County spokeswoman Beth Cefalu stated in an email, “and alleges facts that have never occurred.” She said the county has never discriminated in any aspect of housing, and it has committed nearly $30 million to creating and preserving affordable housing.
The dispute dates back to 2013 when a private developer used HUD Community Development Block Grants to build 62 condos, according to the complaint. But the condos were designed for and marketed to white Hasidic Jews and excluded prospective buyers who were Black.
HUD held the local governments responsible for not ensuring that the grant money was used in a nondiscriminatory way.
In 2018, the county and village made a deal with HUD to build or rehabilitate 62 affordable housing units within seven years. Four units at Nyack Point Apartments qualified in 2018, leaving 58 to be completed.
“Despite tentatively identifying various sites and housing projects as potential locations for affordable housing,” the complaint states, “none of those plans came to fruition.”
In 2021, the deal was extended by four years to account for the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic. New schedules called for 12 to 18 new affordable units every two to three years, till March 2029.
None of the deadlines has been met and the county and village have not identified any specific steps they are taking to comply with the HUD deal, according to the complaint. Spring Valley does claim it has built affordable housing and is in compliance, but HUD says the claim has not been substantiated.
The complaint also states that the county and village have failed to develop an acceptable marketing plan or deed restrictions, as required by the deal.
Cefalu said the lawsuit stems from misuse of $102,438 in Community Block Grant funds by the Village of Spring Valley. When the county was made aware of the misuse it assisted in the filing of a Fair Housing complaint and in 2014 the funding was recovered. She said HUD officials have acted as activists and placed ludicrous demands on the county, such as setting an unrealistic timeline for creating affordable housing.
The feds accused the county and village of breach of agreement under the Fair Housing Act. The United States is asking the court to make the local governments develop the affordable housing and to assess penalties up to $256,000 for each violation of the deal.
The Office of Spring Valley Mayor Alan M. Simon did not reply to an email asking for their responses to the allegations.
