The county is taking its battle with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to court.
County Executive Robert Astorino filed a lawsuit Friday in federal court in Manhattan to prevent HUD from withholding $7.4 million in federal funding to allow the county to make infrastructure repairs.
The county and HUD are at odds over the terms of a 2009 anti-discrimination settlement that required the county 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 resolve 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. On Wednesday, Astorino was threatened with contempt of court by U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara, and Astorino sent source of income legislation to the legislators.
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.
