Westchester County has gone on the offensive against the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.
The Board of Legislators has authorized County Executive Robert Astorino to file a lawsuit against HUD if it withholds $7.4 million in federal funding to allow the county to make infrastructure repairs. The two sides are continuing to fight over the terms of a 2009 anti-discrimination lawsuit. As part of the settlement, the county has to build 750 units of affordable housing by August 2016.
HUD officials are angry that the county has yet to approve source-of-income legislation that would prohibit landlords from discriminating against tenants with Section 8 vouchers. Though the legislators approved the legislation, Astorino vetoed it. HUD rejected Astorino”™s request for a hearing to hash out their differences.
Recently, the New York-based U.S. Court of Appeals ruled against Astorino, claiming that he did violate terms of the settlement by vetoing the legislation.
The court rejected Astorino”™s argument that the legislation would violate home rule, and could come into conflict with the zoning codes of Westchester municipalities.
A similar decision was made by U.S. District Court.
As part of the settlement, the county has to build 750 units of affordable housing by August 2016.
The county will ask HUD to allow the state to disburse the $7.4 million. If HUD and the state reject that, Astorino will file a file an injunction in federal court to get the money, and then proceed with a lawsuit.
Astorino has said he would comply with the law and continue to take principled stands on behalf of the people of Westchester.
This “would compel every owner of a house or apartment to do business with the federal government ”“ and take on all the rules and regulations that entails ”“ upon a tenant”™s presentation of a Section 8 voucher,” Astorino said in a statement. “I also felt that the source of income legislation would be detrimental to the housing settlement because it would act as a disincentive for developers to build affordable housing.”
Astorino said introducing source of income legislation is now in the hands of the Board of Legislators.
