DOJ Reaches Agreement With Village About Increasing Affordable Housing

VILLAGE OF SPRING VALLEY, NY — A Rockland County village has reached an agreement to end legal wrangling with the feds over affordable housing obligations.

The U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of NY, Jay Clayton, announced the settlement of a lawsuit against the Village of Spring Valley on Wednesday, which will result in the completion of 22 units of affordable rental housing over the next five years.

"I applaud the commitment of the Village of Spring Valley to build more affordable housing as part of this resolution," Clayton said. "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."

According to the DOJ, the settlement under the Fair Housing Act (FHA) resolves a claim that Spring Valley breached a Voluntary Compliance Agreement and Conciliation Agreement (VCA), which it entered into in 2018 with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).

The lawsuit remains pending against Rockland County, the other defendant in the action, which was also a party to the VCA.

According to the complaint filed in White Plains federal court and the agreement entered by the court, the VCA between HUD, Spring Valley, and Rockland County resolved a prior HUD investigation into allegations about a private developer using HUD funds overseen by Spring Valley and Rockland County to build affordable housing. The DOJ says the developer unlawfully designed and marketed the resulting units almost exclusively for sale to White Hasidic Jewish prospective homebuyers, in violation of federal law.

The DOJ says that HUD received administrative complaints alleging that Spring Valley and Rockland County became aware of allegations that the developer was excluding interested homebuyers based on protected characteristics, but did not ensure that appropriate remedial steps were taken before the project was completed and units were sold.

In 2018, Spring Valley and Rockland County entered into the VCA with HUD to resolve the administrative complaints, requiring Spring Valley and Rockland County to build 62 units of affordable housing, meeting specified criteria for affordability by specified deadlines.

However, the DOJ says, only four affordable units qualifying under the VCA were built by the time the lawsuit was filed in 2025, even though there was a 2021 amendment of the VCA that provided Spring Valley and Rockland County additional time to complete the required units.

Under the agreement, Spring Valley must ensure the completion of 22 affordable rental units by December 1, 2030. These units are required to be occupied by households with incomes at or below 75 percent of the Area Median Income for Rockland County, with deed restrictions or other legal measures to ensure continued affordability for at least 50 years.

The agreement also requires Spring Valley to ensure appropriate monitoring of HUD grantees and institute training for the village's employees regarding the FHA and related federal requirements.

Spring Valley also agreed to pay a $15,000 civil penalty.

Clayton thanked the staff of HUD's Office of Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity for their assistance.

The case is being handled by the Office's Civil Rights Unit in the Civil Division, with Assistant U.S. Attorney Samuel Dolinger in charge of the case.